tihvaxy  of  t:he  theological  ^eminar;p 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


The    John   M.    Krebs 
Donatloti 


MZ 


FEB2  2i9n 
H I  S  T  0  E  K  ^. 


OF  THE 


VARIATIONS 


OF  THE 


PROTESTAIT    CHUECHES- 


BY  JAMES  BENIGN  BOSSUET, 

BISHOP  OF  MEAUX; 

ONE    OF   HIS  MOST  CHRISTIAN  MAJESTY's   HONORABLE   PRIVY-COUNCIL, 

HERETOFORE  PRECEPTOR  TO  THE  DAUPHIN,  AND  CHIEF 

ALMONER  TO  THE  DAUPHINESS. 


IN   TWO   VOLUMES, 

TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  LAST  FRENCH  EDITION. 

VOL.    II. 


NEW    YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY  D.  &  J.  SADLIER,  58  GOLD-STREET. 

1845. 


THE  HISTORY 

OF   THE 

VARIATIONS  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES 


BOOK  X. 

[From  the  year  1558  to  1570.] 

A  brief  Summary: — Clueen  Elizabeth's  Reformation. — That  of  Edward  cor- 
rected, and  the  Real  Presence,  which  had  been  condemned  under  that 
Prince,  held  for  indifferent : — The  Church  of  England  still  persists  in  this 
sentiment.-— Other  Variations  of  this  Church  in  that  dueen's  reign. — Her 
ecclesiastical  Supremacy  moderated  in  appearance,  in  reality  left  in  the 
same  state  as  under  Henry  and  Edward,  notwithstanding  the  scruples  of 
Elizabeth. — Policy  bears  the  sway  throughout  this  whole  Reformation. — 
The  Faith,  the  Sacraments,  and  the  whole  ecclesiastical  authority  delivered 
up  into  the  hands  of  Kings  and  Parliaments. — The  same  done  in  Scotland. 
— The  Calvinists  of  France  disapprove  this  doctrine,  nevertheless  let  it  pass. 
— England's  doctrine  upon  Justification. — Glueen  Elizabeth  favors  the 
French  Protestants. — They  rebel  as  soon  as  they  have  it  in  their  power. — 
The  conspiracy  of  Amboise,  in  Francis  the  Second's  reign. — The  civil  wars 
under  Charles  IX.— This  conspiracy  and  these  wars  appertain  to  Religion, 
and  were  entered  into  by  the  autliority  of  the  doctors  and  ministers  of  the 
party,  and  grounded  on  the  new  doctrine  teaching  the  lawfulness  of  making 
war  against  their  prince,  for  the  sake  of  Religion. — This  doctrine  expressly 
warranted  by  their  national  Synods. — The  fallacy  of  Protestant  writers, 
and  of  Mr.  Burnet  amongst  the  rest,  w^ho  pretend  tliat  the  tumult  of  Am- 
boise and  the  civil  wars  were  state  affairs. — Religion  was  at  the  bottom  of 
Francis,  Duke  of  Guise's  murder. — Beza's  and  the  Admiral's  testimony. — 
A  new  Confession  of  Faith  in  Switzerland. 

1. — (lueen  Elizabeth  is  pursuaded  nothing  can  secure  to  her  the  Crown,  but  the 
Protestant  religion. — Four  points  she  teas  uneasy  about. 

England  having  soon  returned,  after  Queen  Mary's  death,  to 
Edward  the  Sixth's  Reformation,  set  about  fixing  her  Faith  and 
putting  the  finishing  stroke  to  her  rehgion  by  the  new  Queen's 
authority.  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  VIII  and  Anne  Boleyn, 
was  advanced  to  the  throne,  and  governed  her  kingdom  with  as 
profound  a  policy  as  the  most  able  kings.  The  step  she  had 
taken  with  regard  to  Rome,  immediately  upon  her  coming  to 
the  crown,  countenanced  what  otherwise  had  been  published  of 
this  princess,  that  she  would  not  have  departed  from  the  Cath- 
oUc  religion,  had  she  found  the  Pope  more  disposed  to  her  in- 
terests. Paul  IV,  who  then  sat  in  the  Apostolic  Chair,  gave  no 
favorable  reception  to  the  civilities  she  had  caused  to  be  ten- 
dered him  as  to  another  prince,  without  further  declaration  of 


4  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

her  mind,  by  the  resident  of  the  late  queen  her  sister.*  Mr. 
Burnet  tells  us,  he  treated  her  as  illegitimate  ;  was  surprised  at 
her  great  boldness  in  assuming  the  crown,  a  fief  of  the  Holy 
See,  without  his  consent ;  and  gave  her  no  hopes  of  receiving 
any  favor  at  his  hands,  unless  she  renounced  her  pretensions, 
and  submitted  to  the  See  of  Rome.  Such  usage,  if  true,  was 
not  at  all  likely  to  reclaim  a  queen.  After  such  a  repulse, 
Elizabeth  readily  withdrew  from  a  See,  by  whose  decrees  her 
birth  had  also  been  condemned,  and  engaged  in  the  new  Ref- 
ormation :  yet  she  did  not  approve  that  of  Edward  in  all  its 
parts.  There  were  four  points  which  caused  her  uneasiness, | 
that  of  Ceremonies,  that  of  Images,  that  of  the  Real  Presence, 
and  that  of  the  regal  Supremacy ;  and  what  was  done,  in  her 
time,  with  reference  to  these  four  points,  we  are  now  to  relate. 

2. — First  Point :  Ceremonies. 
As  for  ceremonies,  "  her  first  impressions,"  says  Mr.  Burnet, 
"  were  in  favor  of  such  old  rites  as  her  father  had  still  retained, 
and  in  her  own  nature  loving  state  and  some  magnificence  in 
Religion,  she  thought  her  brother's  ministers  had  stripped  it  too 
much  of  external  ornaments,  and  left  religion  too  bare  and  naked. 
Yet  I  do  not  find  she  did  any  thing  considerable  in  that  regard."  J 

3. — Second  Point:  Images. — Pious  sentiments  of  the  Queen. 
As  for  Images,  "  That  matter  stuck  long  with  her ;  for  she 
inclined  to  keep  up  Images  in  churches,  and  it  was  with  great 
difficulty  she  was  prevailed  upon,  persuaded  as  she  was  that  the 
use  of  Images  in  churches  might  be  a  means  to  stir  up  devotion, 
and  that  at  least  it  would  draw  all  people  to  frequent  them  the 
more."§  Herein  her  sentiments  agreed  in  the  main  with  those 
of  the  Catholics.  If  they  stir  up  devotion  towards  God,  they 
might  well  excite  also  the  external  tokens  of  it;  this  is  the  whole 
of  that  worship  which  we  pay  them.  To  be  inclined  to,  and 
have  favorable  impressions  of  them  in  this  sense,  like  Queen 
Elizabeth,  was  not  so  gross  a  notion  as  is  at  present  imputed  to 
our  belief;  and  I  much  question  whether  Mr.  Burnet  would 
venture  to  charge  a  queen,  who,  according  to  him,  was  the 
foundress  of  religion  in  England,  with  entertaining  idolatrous 
sentiments.  But  the  Iconoclast  party  had  gained  their  point ; 
the  queen,  unable  to  resist  them,  was  wrought  up  by  them  to 
such  extremes,  that  not  content  with  commanding  Images  to  be 
cast  out  of  all  churches,  she  forbade  all  her  subjects  to  keep 
them  in  their  houses  ;||  nothing  but  the  Crucifix  escaped,!!  and 
that  no  where  but  in  the  Royal  Chapel,  whence  the  queen  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  remove  it. 

*  Burn.  1.  iii.  p.  374.  f  Ibid,  p.  376.  J  Ibid. 

§  Ibid.  pp.  397,  and  376.        H  Ibid.  398.        H  Thuan,  1.  xxi.  An.  1559. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  5 

4. — They  persuade  her  with  reasons  evidently  bad. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  consider  what  the  Protestants  al- 
leged in  order  to  induce  her  to  this  injunction  against  Images, 
in  order  that  the  excess  or  vanity  of  the  thing  may  be  discovered. 
The  chief  foundation  of  their  reasons  is,  "  that  the  second  com- 
mandment forbids  the  making  of  any  Images,  as  a  resemblance 
of  God,"*  which  evidently  proves  nothing  either  against  the 
Images  of  Jesus  Christ  as  man,  or  those  of  the  saints,  or,  in 
general,  against  such,  with  respect  to  which  we  publicly  declare 
(as  does  the  Catholic  Church)  that  by  them  we  in  nowise  pre- 
tend to  represent  the  Deity.  The  rest  is  too  extravagant  to 
bear  repeating  :  for  either  it  concludes  just  nothing,  or  it  con- 
cludes for  the  absolute  prohibition  of  the  use  of  painting  and 
sculpture, — a  weakness  now-a-days  so  universally  exploded  by 
all  Christians,  as  only  to  find  place  in  the  gross  superstition  of 
Mahometans  and  Jews. 

5. — Manifest  Variation  with  respect  to  the  Real  Presence. — Policy  regulates 

Religion. 

The  queen  showed  more  resolution  on  the  subject  of  the  Eu- 
charist. It  is  of  main  importance  well  to  comprehend  her  sen- 
timents, such  as  Mr.  Burnet  delivers  them :  She  thought  that 
in  her  brother's  reign  they  made  their  doctrine  too  narrow  in 
some  points  ;  therefore  she  intended  to  have  some  things  ex- 
plained in  more  general  terms,  that  so  all  parties  might  be  com- 
prehended by  them. "I  These  were  her  sentiments  in  general. 
In  applying  them  to  the  Eucharist,  "  Her  intention  was  to  have 
the  manner  of  Christ's  presence  in  the  Sacrament  be  left  in 
some  general  words.  She  very  much  disliked  that  those  who 
believed  the  corporal  presence  had  been  driven  away  from  the 
Church  by  too  nice  an  explanation  of  it."  And  again,  "  it  was 
proposed  to  have  the  communion-book  so  contrived,  that  it 
might  not  exclude  the  belief  of  the  corporal  presence  ;  for  the 
chief  design  of  the  Queen's  council  was  to  unite  the  nation  in 
one  faith,  "t 

One  might  be  apt  to  think,  perchance,  that  the  queen  judged 
it  needless  to  make  any  express  declarations  against  the  real 
presence,  her  subjects  of  themselves  being  sufficiently  inclined 
to  reject  it :  but,  on  the  contrary,  "  the  greatest  part  of  the  na- 
tion continued  to  believe  such  a  presence.  Therefore,  it  was 
recommended  to  the  divines  to  see  that  there  should  be  no  ex- 
press definition  made  against  it ;  that  so  it  might  lie  as  a  spec- 
ulative opinion,  not  determined,  in  which  every  man  was  left  to 
the  freedom  of  his  own  mind."§ 

+  Burn.  1.  iii.  p.  397.  f  Ibid.  p.  376. 

X  Ibid.  p.  392*  §  Ibid. 

VOL.  II.  1* 


6  THE    HISTORY    OP  [BOOK 

6. — The  Faith  of  the  pretended  Martyrs  changed. 
Here  was  a  strange  variation  in  one  of  the  main  fundamental 
points  of  the  EngUsh  Reformation.  In  the  Confession  of  Faith 
set  forth  in  1551,  under  Edward,  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Pres- 
ence was  excluded  in  so  strong  a  manner,  that  it  was  declared 
impossible  and  contrary  to  our  Lord's  ascension.  When  Gran- 
nie r  was  condemned  for  a  heretic  in  Queen  Mary's  time,  he 
owned  the  capital  subject  of  his  condemnation  was,  his  not  con- 
fessing a  corporal  presence  of  our  Saviour  on  the  altar.  Ridley, 
Latimer,  and  others,  the  pretended  martyrs  of  the  English  Ref- 
ormation, mentioned  by  Mr.  Burnet,  all  suffered  for  the  same 
cause.  Calvin  says  as  much  of  the  French  martyrs,  whose  au- 
thority he  opposes  against  the  Lutherans."*  This  article  was 
esteemed  of  that  high  importance  even  in  1549,  and  during  the 
whole  reiirn  of  Edward,  "  that  when  the  reformation  was  to  be 
carried  on  to  the  establishment  of  a  form  of  doctrine,"  says  Mr. 
Burnet,  "  which  should  contain  the  chief  points  of  religion,  in- 
quiry was  chiefly  made  concerning  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the 
sacrament."  It  was,  therefore,  at  that  time,  not  only  one  of 
the  fundamental  points,  but  also  a  capital  one  amongst  these 
fundamentals.  As  it  was  of  such  concern,  and  the  principal 
cause  for  which  these  boasted  martyrs  shed  their  blood,  it  could 
not  be  explained  in  terms  too  distinct.  After  so  clear  an  expo- 
sition of  it  as  that  which  had  been  made  under  Edward,  to  re- 
turn, as  did  Elizabeth,  to  general  terms,  which  left  the  thing 
undetermined,  that  all  parties  might  be  comprehended  in  them, 
and  every  man  left  to  the  freedom  of  his  own  mind,  was  betray- 
ing truth,  and  putting  error  on  the  level  with  it.  In  a  word, 
these  general  terms  in  a  confession  of  faith,  were  nothing  but  a 
fallacy  in  the  most  serious  of  all  concerns,  and  wherein  the  ut- 
most sincerity  is  required.  This  is  what  the  English  Reformers 
ought  to  have  represented  to  Elizabeth.  But  policy  outbalanced 
religion,  nor  was  it  now  to  their  purpose  so  greatly  to  condemn 
the  Real  Presence.  Wherefore,  the  twenty-ninth  article  of 
Edward's  confession,  wherein  it  was  condemned,  was  very  much 
changed,  and  a  great  deal  left  out ;  j"  all  that  showed  the  Real 
Presence  was  impossible  and  contradictory  to  the  residence  of 
Christ's  body  in  heaven.  "  All  this  was  suppressed,"  says  Mr. 
Burnet,  "  and  that  expressed  definition  dashed  over  with  mini- 
um." The  historian  takes  care  to  tell  us  it  is  still  legible  ;  but 
that  even  is  a  testimony  against  the  expunged  doctrine.  They 
would  have  it  still  legible,  to  the  end  a  proof  might  be  extant, 
that  this  was  the  very  point  which  they  had  concluded  to  reverse. 
They  had  remonstrated  to  Queen  Elizabeth  concerning  images, 

*  Calv.  diliicid.  explic.  opusc.  p.  861.  p.  ii.  I.  i.  p.  104, 
1  Ibid.  1.  iii.  pp.  405,  406. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  7 

"  that  it  would  cast  a  great  reflection  on  the  first  reformers, 
should  they  again  set  up  in  churches  what  these  so  zealous  mar- 
tyrs of  the  evangelical  purity  had  so  carefully  removed."*  It 
was  of  no  less  a  criminal  nature,  to  rescind  from  the  Confession 
of  Faith  of  these  pretended  martyrs,  what  they  had  placed  in  it, 
in  opposition  to  the  Real  Presence,  and  to  annul  that  doctrine, 
in  testimony  whereof  they  had  given  up  their  lives.  Instead  of 
their  plain  and  express  definitions,  they  were  content  to  say, 
conformably  to  Queen  Elizabeth's  design,  "  in  general  terms, 
that  the  body  of  Christ  is  given  and  received  after  a  spiritual 
manner ;  and  the  means  by  which  it  is  received,  is  Faith. "|  The 
first  part  of  the  article  is  very  true,  taking  spiritual  manner  for 
a  manner  that  is  above  our  senses  and  nature,  as  the  Catholics 
and  Lutherans  understand  it ;  nor  is  the  second  part  less  cer- 
tain, taking  the  reception  for  a  profitable  reception,  and  in  the 
sense  St.  John  meant,  when  he  said  of  Jesus  Christ,  "  that  his 
own  received  him  not,"J  although  he  were  in  the  world  in  per- 
son in  the  midst  of  them  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  neither  received 
his  doctrine  nor  his  grace.  Furthermore,  what  was  added  in 
Edward's  Confession,  with  reference  to  the  communion  of  the 
wicked  who  receive  nothing  but  the  symbols,  was  cut  off  in  like 
manner,  and  care  was  taken  that  nothing  but  what  the  Catholics 
and  Lutherans  might  approve,  should  be  retained  with  respect 
to  the  Real  Presence. 

7. — Substantial  Changes  in  Edivarcfs  Liturgy. 
For  the  same  reason,  whatever  condemned  the  corporal  pres- 
ence, was  now  changed  in  Edward's  liturgy  :  for  instance,  the 
rubrick  there  explained  the  reason  for  kneeling  at  the  sacrament, 
"that  thereby  no  adoration  is  intended  to  any  corporal  presence  of 
Christ's  natural  flesh  and  blood,  because  that  is  only  in  heaven. "§ 
But,  under  Ehzabeth,  these  words  were  lopped  off,  and  the 
full  hberty  of  adoring  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  was 
allowed  as  present  in  the  Eucharist.  What  the  pretended  mar- 
tyrs and  founders  of  the  English  Reformation  had  held  for  gross 
idolatry,  became  an  innocent  action  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth. In  Edward's  second  hturgy,  these  words,  which  had 
been  left  standing  in  the  first,  were  taken  away  :  viz.,  "  the 
body  or  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  preserve  thy  body  and  thy 
soul  to  everlasting  life  ;"  but  these  words,  which  Edward  had 
left  out  because  they  seemed  too  much  to  favor  the  belief  of  the 
corporal  presence,  were  replaced  by  Queen  Elizabeth.  ||  The 
will  of  kings  became  the  rule  of  faith,  and  what  we  now  see 
removed  by  this  Queen,  was  again  inserted  in  the  common- 
prayer  book  by  King  Charles  II. 

*  Calv.  dilucid.  exnlic.  opusc.  1.  iii.  p.  397.     f  P.  405.     J  John  i.  10,  11. 
§  P.  ii.  p.  39a.  II  Ibid.  1.  i.  p.  170. 


8  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

8. — An  imposition  of  Mr.  Burnet;  who  has  the  assurance  to  say,  that  the  Doc- 
tnne  established  by  Edward  was  not  changed. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  changes  in  such  essential  matters, 
Mr.  Burnet  would  make  us  believe  there  was  no  variation  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  English  Reformation.  "  The  doctrine  of  the 
Church,"  says  he,  "  was  at  that  time  contrary  to  the  belief  of  a 
real  or  corporal  presence  in  the  sacrament,  in  like  manner  as  at 
present :  only,  it  was  not  thought  necessary  or  expedient  to 
publish  it  in  too  distinct  a  manner ;'  *  as  if  one  could  speak  too 
distinctly  in  matters  of  faith.  But  this  is  not  all.  It  is  a  man- 
ifest variation  in  doctrine,  not  only  to  embrace  what  is  contrary 
to  it,  but  to  leave  undecided  what  was  decided  formerly.  If  the 
ancient  Catholics,  after  deciding  in  express  terms  the  Son  of 
God's  equality  with  his  Father,  had  suppressed  what  they  had 
pronounced  at  Nice,  contenting  themselves  with  barely  calling 
him  sjrod  in  general  terms,  and  in  the  sense  the  Arians  could  not 
deny  it,  insomuch  that  what  had  been  decided  so  expressly  should 
have  become  undecided  and  indifferent,  would  they  not  have 
altered  the  Church's  faith,  and  stepped  backwards  1  Now,  this 
is  wliat  was  done  under  Elizabeth  by  the  Church  of  England ; 
and  none  can  acknowledge  it  more  clearly  than  Mr.  Burnet  has 
done  in  the  words  above  cited,  where  it  stands  confessed  in  ex- 
press terms,  that  it  was  neither  by  chance,  nor  forgetfulness,  but 
from  a  premeditated  design,  that  they  omitted  the  words  used  in 
Edward's  time,  and  that  "  no  express  definition  was  made  against 
the  corporal  presence  ;"|  on  the  contrary,  it  was  let  lie  as  a 
speculative  opinion,  not  determined,  in  which  every  man  was 
left  to  the  freedom  of  his  own  mind  to  reject  or  embrace  it :  in 
this  manner,  either  sincerely  or  politically,  the  faith  of  the  re- 
formers was  forsaken,  and  the  dogma  of  the  corporal  presence 
left  for  indifferent,  against  which  they  had  combated  even  unto 
blood. 

9. — England  indifferent  as  to  the  Real  Presence. 

This,  if  we  believe  Mr.  Burnet,  is  yet  the  present  state  of  the 
Church  of  England.  It  was  on  these  grounds  that  the  Bishop 
William  Bedell,  whose  life  he  has  written,  believed  that  a  great 
company  of  Lutherans  who  had  fled  to  Dublin  for  refuge,  might 
without  difficulty  com.municate  with  the  Church  of  England, J 
"  which  in  reality,"  says  Mr.  Burnet,  "  hath  so  great  a  modera- 
tion in  that  matter  (the  Real  Presence)  that  no  positive  defini- 
tion of  the  manner  of  the  presence  being  made,  men  of  different 
sentiments  may  agree  in  the  same  acts  of  worship,  without  being 
obliged  to  declare  their  opinion,  or  being  understood  to  do  any 
thing  contrary  to  their  several  persuasions."     Thus  hath  the 

♦  Burn.  I.  iii.  p.  406.        f  P.  392.        J  Life  of  B.  BedeU,  pp.  137, 138. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  9 

Church  of  England  corrected  her  teachers,  and  reformed  her 
first  reformers. 

10. — JSTeither  the  loord  substance  nor  miracles,  which  Calvin  places  in  the  Eu- 
charist,  are  admitted  by  them. 

Moreover,  the  Enghsh  Reformation  neither  under  Edward 
nor  Elizabeth,  ever  employed,  in  the  explanation  of  the  Eucha- 
rist, the  substance  of  the  body,  nor  those  incomprehensible  ope- 
rations which  Calvin  so  much  exalts.  These  expressions  too 
much  favored  a  real  presence,  and  it  was  for  this  reason  they 
were  not  made  use  of  either  in  Edward's  reign,  when  that  was 
designedly  excluded,  or  in  Ehzabeth's,  when  the  thing  was  to 
be  left  undetermined  ;  and  England  was  very  sensible  that  these 
words  of  Calvin,  little  suitable  to  the  doctrine  of  the  figurative 
sense,  could  not  be  introduced  into  it  otherwise,  than  by  forcing 
too  visibly  their  natural  sense. 

11. — The  (^ueeti's  Supremacy  in  spirituals  is  established  in  spite  of  all  her 

scruples. 

The  article  of  Supremacy  now  remains  to  be  considered. 
True  it  is,  Elizabeth  opposed  it,  and  this  title,  of  Head  of  the 
Church,  in  her  judgment  too  great  for  kings,  seemed  to  her  still 
more  insupportable  in  a  queen,  not  to  say  ridiculous.  "  A 
famous  preacher  among  those  of  the  reformation,"  says  Mr. 
Burnet,  "  put  this  scruple  about  it  in  her  head  ;"*  that  is,  some 
remains  of  shame  were  still  to  be  met  with  in  the  English 
Church ;  nor  was  it  without  some  little  remorse  that  she  gave 
up  her  authority  to  the  secular  power  ;  but  policy  got  the  better 
even  in  this  point.  As  much  ashamed  as  the  queen  was  in  her 
heart  of  this  title  of  the  Church's  supreme  head,  she  accepted 
of  it,  and  exercised  it  under  another  name.  By  an  act  which 
passed  in  1559,  "  The  supremacy  was  again  annexed  to  the 
crown,  and  declared  that  the  authority  of  visiting,  correcting, 
and  reforming  all  things  in  the  Church  is  for  ever  annexed  to 
the  regal  dignity,  and  whosoever  should  refuse  to  swear  and  ac- 
knowledge the  queen  to  be  the  supreme  governor  in  all  causes, 
as  well  ecclesiastical  as  temporal,  within  her  dominions,  was  to 
forfeit  any  office  he  had  either  in  Church  or  State  ;  and  to  be 
thenceforth  disabled  to  hold  any  employment  during  life.""!"  This 
is  what  the  queen's  scruple  ended  in ;  and  all  she  did  to  mod- 
erate the  laws  of  Henry  VHI,  with  regard  to  the  king's  suprem- 
acy, was,  that  whereas,  denying  the  supremacy  in  King  Henry's 
time,  cost  men  their  lives,  in  Elizabeth's  it  cost  them  but  a  for- 
feiture of  their  goods.  J 

12. — Resolution  of  the  Catholic  Bishops. 
The  Catholic  bishops  on  this  occasion  were  not  forgetful  of 
their  duty,  and  being  inflexibly  attached  to  the  Catholic  Church 
+  Burnet,  1.  iii.  p.  386.       f  Ibid.  1.  pp.  iii.  385,  386.      %  Ibid.  1.  iii.  336. 


10  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

and  Holy  See,  were  deposed  for  having  constantly  refused  to 
subscribe  the  queen's  supremacy,  no  less  than  the  other  articles 
of  the  Reformation.  But  Parker,  the  Protestant  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  was  of  all  the  most  zealous  in  submitting  to  the 
yoke.  It  was  to  him  complaints  were  addressed  of  the  queen's 
scruples  respecting  her  title  of  Supreme  head  ;  to  him  was  ren- 
dered an  account  of  what  was  done  to  engage  the  Catholics  to 
acknowledge  it,  and  finally  the  English  Reformation  could  no 
longer  be  compatible  with  the  liberty  and  authority  which  Jesus 
Chri;:t  had  given  to  his  Church.  What  had  been  resolved  on 
in  the  Parhament  in  1559,  in  favor  of  the  queen's  supremacy, 
was  received  in  the  synod  of  London  by  the  common  consent 
of  all  the  clergy,  of  the  first  as  well  as  of  the  second  order. 

13. — Declaration  of  the  Clergy  regarding  the  Supremacy  of  Elizabeth. 

There  the  supremacy  was  inserted  among  the  articles  of  faith 
in  these  terms  : — "  The  royal  majesty  has  sovereign  power  in 
this  kingdom  of  England,  and  in  her  other  dominions,  and  the 
sovereign  government  of  all  her  subjects,  lay  and  ecclesiastical, 
belongs  to  her  in  all  matters,  without  being  subjected  to  any 
foreign  power."*  By  these  last  words  they  intended  to  exclude 
the  Pope ;  but  as  the  other  words,  "  in  all  matters,"!  put  in 
without  restriction,  as  had  been  done  in  the  act  of  parliament, 
imported  a  full  sovereignty,  even  in  ecclesiastical  causes,  with- 
out excepting  those  of  faith,  they  were  ashamed  of  proceeding 
to  such  great  excess,  and  introduced  the  following  modification. 
*'  Whereas  we  attribute  to  the  royal  majesty  this  sovereign  gov- 
ernment, at  which  we  learn  that  many  ill-disposed  individuals 
are  displeased,  we  do  not  grant  to  our  kings  the  administration 
of  the  word  and  of  the  sacram  nts,  as  is  clearly  shown  by  the 
ordinances  of  our  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  but  we  merely  give  to  her 
the  ;7rerogative,  which  the  Scripture  attributes  to  pious  princes, 
of  being  able  to  keep  to  their  duty  all  orders,  whether  lay  or 
ecclesiastical,  and  to  check  the  stubborn  by  the  sword  of  the 
civil  power. 

14. — This  served  but  as  a  clumsy  palliation  for  a  great  evil. 

This  explanation  is  conformable  to  a  declaration  which  the 
queen  had  published,  where  she  said  at  first  "  that  she  was  far 
from  wishing  to  administer  holy  things."  The  Protestants,  ready 
to  afford  satisfaction  on  the  subject  of  ecclesiastical  authority, 
thought  thereby  to  be  sheltered  from  whatever  evil  its  supremacy 
was  attended  with,  but  all  in  vain ;  for  the  question  was  not 
whether  the  English  invested  royalty  with  the  administration  of 
the  word  and  of  the  sacraments.  Who  has  ever  accused  them 
of  wishing  that  their  kings  should  ascend  the  pulpit,  or  admia- 

*  Syn.  Lond.  art.  7.  f  Syn.  gen.  p.  i.  pag.  107. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  11 

ister  communion  and  baptism  ?  And  what  is  there  so  uncom- 
mon in  this  declaration,  wherein  Queen  EHzabeth  avows  that 
this  ministry  appertains  not  to  her  ?  The  question  was  to  know, 
whether  in  such  matters  the  royal  majesty  has  a  mere  direction 
and  an  external  execution,  or  whether  it  influences  fundamen- 
tally the  validity  of  ecclesiastical  acts.  But  whilst  it  was  ap- 
parently reduced  in  this  article  to  the  mere  execution,  the  con- 
trary appeared  but  too  manifest  in  practice.  Permission  to  preach 
was  granted  by  letters  patent  and  under  the  great  seal.  The 
queen  made  bishops  with  the  same  authority  as  the  king  her 
father  and  the  king  her  brother,  and  for  a  limited  time  if  she 
pleased.  The  commission  for  their  consecration  emanated  from 
the  royal  power.  Excommunications  were  decreed  by  the  same 
authority.  The  queen  regulated  by  her  edicts  not  only  the  ex- 
terior worship,  but  also  faith  and  the  dogma,  or  caused  them  to 
be  regulated  by  her  parliament,  whose  acts  received  their  valid- 
ity from  Her ;  and  there  is  nothing  more  unheard  of  in  the 
Christian  Church,  than  what  was  done  at  that  time. 

15. — The  Parliament  continues  to  asstime  the  decision  in  points  of  faith. 

The  parliament  pronounced  directly  on  heresy.  It  regulated 
the  conditions  on  which  a  doctrine  should  pass  for  heretical,  and 
where  these  conditions  were  not  found  in  this  doctrine,  it  pro- 
hibited its  condemnation,  "  and  reserved  to  itself  the  cognizance 
of  it."  The  question  is  not  to  know  whether  the  rule  which 
parliament  prescribed  is  good  or  bad ;  but  whether  the  parlia- 
ment, a  secular  body,  whose  acts  received  their  validity  from 
tlie  prince,  can  decide  on  matters  of  faith,  and  reserve  to  itself 
the  cognizance  of  them  ;  that  is,  whether  they  may  challenge 
it  to  themselves,  and  take  away  the  exercise  of  it  from  the 
bishops,  on  whom  Christ  had  bestowed  it ;  for  the  parliament's 
saying  they  would  judge  with  the  assent  of  the  clergy  in  their 
convocation,*  was  nothing  but  an  illusion  ;  since,  in  the  end, 
this  was  still  reserving  to  the  parliament  the  supreme  authority, 
and  hearing  the  pastors  rather  as  counsellors  whose  hghts  they 
borrowed,  than  as  natural  judges,  to  whom  only  the  decision 
appertained  of  divine  right.  I  cannot  think  a  christian  heart 
can  hear  of  such  an  invasion  of  the  pastoral  authority  and  the 
rights  of  the  sanctuary  without  a  sigh. 

16. — On  what  is  grounded  the  Validity  of  the  English  Ordinations. 

But  lest  it  should  be  imagined,  that  all  these  attempts  of  the 
secular  authority  on  the  rights  of  the  sanctuary  were  nothing 
but  usurpations  of  the  laity,  the  clergy  not  consenting  to  them, 
and  this  under  pretext  of  the  above  explanation  given  by  the  said 
clergy  to  the  Queen's  supremacy  in  the  thirty- seventh  article 

♦  Syn,  gen.  pag.  I  107. 


12  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  what  precedes,  and  what  follows, 
evince  the  contrary.     What  precedes,  inasmuch  as  this  synod 
being  composed,  as  just  observed,  of  both  houses  of  the  clergy 
intending  to  set  forth  the  vaUdity  of  the  ordination  of  bishops, 
of  priests,  and  deacons,  grounds  it  on  a  form  contained  in  the 
book  of  consecration  of  archbishops  and  bishops,  and  ordaining 
of  priests  and  deacons,  lately  set  forth  in  the  time  of  King 
Edward  VI,  and  confirmed  by  authority  of  parliament.*    Weak 
bishops  !  wretched  clergy !  who  choose  rather  to  take  the  form  of 
their  ordination  from  a  book  made  lately,  but  ten  years  ago  in 
King  Edward's  time,  and  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  parlia- 
ment, than  from  the  sacramentary  of  St.  Gregory,  the  author 
of  their  conversion,  wherein  they  might  still  read  the  form, 
according  to  which  their  predecessors  and  the  holy  monk  St. 
Augustin,  their  first  apostle,  had  been  consecrated ;  although  this 
book  was  warranted,  not  indeed  by  the  authority  of  parliaments, 
but  by  the  universal  tradition  of  all  Christian  churches."!* 
17. — Sequel  of  this  Matter. 
Upon  this  it  was  that  these  bishops  founded  the  validity  of 
their  consecration,  and  the  orders  of  their  priests  and  deacons  ; 
and  this  was  done  pursuant  to  a  decree  of  parliament  in  1659, 
wherein  the  doubt  concerning  ordination  was  solved  by  an  act 
authorizing  the  book  of  ordination,  which  was  joined  to  King 
Edward's  liturgy :   so  that  had  not  the  parliament  made  these 
acts,  the  ordinations  of  their  whole  clergy  had  still  remained 
dubious. J 

18. — Decisions  of  Faith  reserved  to  the  Royal  Authority,  by  the  Declaration  of 

the  Bishops. 

The  bishops  and  their  clergy,  who  had  thus  enslaved  the 
ecclesiastical  authority,  conclude  in  a  manner  corresponding  to 
such  a  beginning  ;  when,  after  having  set  forth  their  faith  in  all 
the  foregoing  articles  to  the  number  of  thirty-nine,  they  con- 
clude with  this  ratification,  wherein  they  declare,  "  That  these 
articles  being  authorized  by  the  consent  and  assent  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  ought  to  be  received  and  executed  throughout  the 
whole  realm  of  England."  Where  we  find  the  Queen's  appro- 
bation, and  not  only  her  consent  by  submission,  but  also  her 
assent,  as  I  may  say,  by  express  deliberation,  mentioned  in  the 
act  as  a  condition  that  makes  it  valid  ;  insomuch  that  the  decrees 
of  bishops  in  matters  the  most  within  the  verge  of  their  ministry, 
receive  their  last  form  and  vahdity,  in  the  same  style  with  acts 
of  parliament  from  the  Queen's  approbation,  these  weak  bishops 
never  daring  all  this  while  to  remonstrate,  after  the  example  of 
dfl  past  ages,  that  their  decrees,  valid  of  themselves,  and  by 

*  Syn.  Lon.,  art.  36.  Syn.  Gen.  p.  107.  Bur.  385. 
t  Ibid.  t  B"m.  ibid.  p.  392. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  13 

that  sacred  authority,  wh'.ch  Jesus  Christ  had  annexed  to  their 
character,  required  nothing  else  from  the  regaJ  power,  but  an 
entire  submission  and  exterior  protection.  Thus,  whilst  they 
forget  the  primitive  institutions  of  their  church,  together  with 
the  head  whom  Jesus  Christ  had  given  them,  and  set  up  princes 
for  their  heads  whom  Jesus  Christ  had  not  appointed  for  that 
end,  they  degraded  themselves  to  that  degree,  that  no  ecclesi- 
astical act,  not  even  those  which  regard  preaching,  censures, 
liturgy,  sacraments,  nay,  faith  itself,  have  any  force  in  England, 
but  inasmuch  as  they  are  approved  and  made  valid  by  Kings  ; 
which  in  the  main  gives  to  Kings  more  than  the  word,  and  more 
than  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  since  it  renders  them 
the  sovereign  arbiters  of  one  and  the  other. 

19. — The  same  Doctrine  in  Scotland. — 1568. 

It  is  for  the  same  reason  that  we  behold  the  first  Confession 
of  Scotland,  since  she  became  Protestant,  published  in  the 
name  of  the  parliament ;  and  a  second  Confession  of  the  same 
kingdom,  bearing  this  title  :  "  A  general  Confession  of  the  true 
Christian  Faith  according  to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  acts  of 
our  Parliaments."* 

A  great  multitude  of  different  declarations  was  requisite  to 
explain  how  these  acts  did  not  attribute  the  episcopal  jurisdic- 
tion to  the  crown ;  but  all  was  nothing  but  mere  words,  since 
after  all,  it  still  stands  incontestable  that  no  ecclesiastical  act 
hath  any  force  in  that  kingdom,  no  more  than  in  England,  unless 
ratified  by  the  King  and  parliament. 

20. — The  English  Doctrine,  xchich  makes  the  King  head  of  the  Church,  con- 
demned by  the  Calvinists. 

Our  Calvinists,  I  own,  seem  far  remote  from  this  doctrine ; 
and  I  find,  not  only  in  Calvin,  as  already  observed,  but  also  in 
the  national  synods,  express  condemnations  of  those  who  con- 
found the  civil  government  with  that  of  the  church,  by  making 
the  magistrate  head  of  the  church,  or  by  subjecting  the  ecclesi- 
astical government  to  the  people.!  But  there  is  nothing  but 
will  go  down  with  these  men,  provided  you  are  an  enemy  to  the 
Pope  and  Rome ;  insomuch  that,  by  stress  of  equivocations 
and  explanations,  the  Calvinists  were  gained,  and  brought  in 
England  even  to  subscribe  the  supremacy. 

21. — Ml  that  remained  to  the  Church  seized  upon. 
It  appears  by  the  whole  tenor  of  the  acts  which  I  have  re- 
ported, how  vain  it  is  to  pretend  that,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
this  supremacy  was  reduced  to  more  reasonable  terms  than  in 
the  precedent  reigns,  there  being,  on  the  contrary,  no  alteration 

*  Synt.  Gen.  part  i.  p.  109.     Ibid.  p.  126.  1588. 
t  Syn.  of  Paris,  1565.    Syn.  of  RocheUe,  1571. 
VOL.  II.  2 


14  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

to  be  found  in  the  main.*  Among  other  fruits  of  the  suprem- 
acy, one  was  the  Queen's  invading  the  revenues  of  the  church 
under  the  pretence  of  giving  the  full  vakie  of  them,|  even  those 
of  the  bishops,  such  as,  till  then,  had  remained  sacred  and  in- 
violate. Treading  in  the  steps  of  the  King  her  father,  in  order 
to  engage  the  nobility  in  the  interests  of  the  supremacy  and 
reformation,  she  made  them  a  present  of  a  share  in  these  con- 
secrated goods  ;  and  this  state  of  the  church,  enslaved  both  in 
her  temporals  and  spirituals,  is  called  the  English  reformation, 
the  re-estabhshment  of  evangelical  purity  ! 

22. — Ji  remarkable  passage  in  Mr.  Burnet,  concerning  the  English  Refarmation, 
Nevertheless,  if  we  may  form  a  judgment  of  this  reformation 
according  to  the  gospel-rule,  by  its  fruits,  there  was  never  any 
thing  more  deplorable  :  seeing  the  effect  which  this  miserable 
subjection  of  the  clergy  did  produce,  was,  that  from  thence- 
forwards  religion  was  no  more  then  a  state-engine  always  veer- 
ing at  the  breath  of  the  prince.  Edward's  reformation,  which 
had  entirely  changed  that  of  Henry  VIII,  was  changed  itself  in 
an  instant  under  Mary,  and  Elizabeth  destroyed  in  two  years 
all  that  Mary  had  done  before. 

The  bishops,  reduced  to  fourteen  in  number,  stood  firm, 
together  with  about  fifty  or  sixty  ecclesiastics  ;  J  but,  excepting 
so  small  a  number  in  so  great  a  kingdom,  all  the  rest  paid 
obedience  to  the  Queen's  injunctions,  yet  with  so  little  good 
will  for  the  new  doctrine  they  were  made  to  embrace,  "  that 
probably,"  says  Mr.  Burnet,  "  if  Queen  Elizabeth  had  not  lived 
long,  and  a  prince  of  another  religion  had  succeeded  before 
the  death  of  all  that  generation,  they  had  turned  about  again 
to  the  old  superstitions  as  nimbly  as  they  had  done  in  Queen 
Mary's  time."§ 

23. — Inamissibility  of  Justice  rejected  by  the  Church  of  England. 
In  this  same  Confession  of  Faith,  which  had  been  confirmed 
under  Ehzabeth  in  1562,  there  are  two  important  points  re- 
lating to  justification.  In  one  of  them,  the  inamissibility  of 
justice  is  rejected  clearly  enough  by  this  declaration.  "  After 
we  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  may  depart  from  grace 
given,  and  arise  again,  and  amend  our  lives. "||  In  the  other, 
the  certainty  of  predestination  seems  quite  excluded,  when, 
after  saying  that  "  The  doctrine  of  predestination  is  full  of 
comfort  to  godly  persons,  by  confirming  their  faith  of  eternal 
salvation  to  be  enjoyed  through  Jesus  Christ,"  they  add,  "  It  is 
the  downfall  for  carnal  persons  either  into  a  desperation,  or  into 
recklessness  of  most  unclean  living."    And,  in  conclusion,  that 

*  Burn.  1.  iii.  p.  394,  &c.  f  Thuan.  lib,  xxi.  1559.   Burn.  lib.  iii.  p.  3S4. 

I  Burnet,  1.  iii.  p.  401.  §  Ibid. 

II  Synt.  Gen.  part  i.    Conf.  Aug.  Art.  xvi.  xvii.  p.  102. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  15 

"  we  must  receive  God's  promises,  as  they  be  generally  set  forth 
to  us  in  holy  scripture ;  and  in  our  doings,  that  will  of  God  is 
to  be  followed,  which  we  have  expressly  declared  unto  us  in 
the  word  of  God ;"  which  seems  to  exclude  that  special  cer- 
tainty, whereby  each  of  the  faithful  is  obliged  to  believe  in  par- 
ticular, as  of  faith,  that  he  is  in  the  number  of  the  elect,  and 
comprehended  within  that  absolute  decree,  by  which  God  wills 
their  salvation  :  a  doctrine  riot  agreeable,  it  seems,  to  the  Prot- 
estants of  England,  although  they  not  only  bear  with  it  in  the 
Calvinists,  but  also  the  deputies  from  their  church  have  con- 
firmed it,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  synod  of  Dort.* 

24. — The  beginning  of  the  disturbances  in  France  fomented  by  Elizabeth. — 
Change  of  the  Calvinistic  Doctrine. 

Queen  Elizabeth  secretly  encouraged  that  disposition  which 
those  of  France  were  in  towards  a  rebellion  ;  nearly  at  the  same 
time  that  the  English  reformation  was  modelled  under  that 
queen,  they  declared  themselves.  Our  reformed,  after  about 
thirty  years,  grew  v/eary  of  deriving  their  glory  from  their  suf- 
ferings ;  their  patience  could  hold  out  no  longer ;  nor  did  they 
from  that  time  exaggerate  their  submission  to  our  kings. "f  This 
submission  lasted  but  whilst  they  were  in  a  capacity  of  curbing 
them.  Under  the  strong  reigns  of  Francis  I  and  Henry  II,  they 
were  in  reality  very  submissive,  and  made  no  show  of  an  inten- 
tion to  levy  war.  The  reign,  no  less  weak  than  short,  of  Francis 
II,  inspired  them  with  boldness.  The  fire,  so  long  concealed, 
blazed  forth  in  the  conspiracy  of  Amboise.  Yet  a  sufficient 
strength  still  remained  in  the  government  to  have  quenched  it 
at  the  beginning :  but  during  the  minority  of  Charles  IX,  and 
under  the  regency  of  a  Queen,  all  whose  policy  aspired  no  fur- 
ther than  to  maintain  her  power  by  dangerous  and  trimming 
measures,  the  revolt  became  entire  and  the  conflagration  univer- 
sal over  all  France.  A  particular  account  of  these  intrigmes 
and  wars  comes  not  within  my  sphere,  nor  should  I  even  have 
spoken  of  these  commotions,  if,  contrary  to  all  preceding  dec- 
larations and  protestations,  they  had  not  produced  this  new  doc- 
trine in  the  reformation,  that  it  is  lawful  to  take  up  arms  against 
prince  and  country,  in  the  cause  of  religion. 

25. — The  Calvinists  took  arms  from  maxims  of  Religion. 

It  had  been  well  foreseen,  that  the  new  reformed  would  not 
be  slack  in  proceeding  to  such  measures.  Not  to  trace  back 
the  wars  of  the  Albigenses,  the  seditions  of  the  Wickliftites  in 
England,  the  furies  of  the  Taborites  in  Bohemia,  it  had  been  but 
too  apparent  what  was  the  result  of  all  the  fine  protestations  of 
the  Lutherans  in  Germany.^     The  leagues  and  wars  so  much 

*  Book  xiv.  f  Burn.  1.  iii.  pp.  415,  416. 

X  Thuan.  lib.  xxvii.  1560,  t  ii.  p.  17.     La  Poplin,  i.  viL  pp.  246,  255. 


16  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

detested  at  first,  as  soon  as  ever  the  Protestants  were  sensible  of 
their  strength,  became  lawful,  and  Luther  added  this  new  article 
to  his  gospel.  The  ministers  too  of  the  Vaudois  had  but  just 
taught  this  doctrine,  when  the  war  was  commenced  in  the  valleys 
against  their  sovereigns  the  Dukes  of  Savoy.  The  new  reformed 
of  France  were  not  backward  to  follow  these  examples,  nor  is 
there  any  doubt  but  they  were  spirited  up  to  it  by  their  doctors, 

26. — Beza  oions  that  the  conspiracy  of  Amhoise  was  entered  upon  from  a  maxim 

of  Conscience. 

As  for  the  conspiracy  of  Amboise,  all  historians  testify  as 
much  ;  even  Beza  owns  it  in  his  ecclesiastical  history.  It  was 
from  the  influence  of  their  doctors,  that  the  Prince  of  Conds 
believed  himself  innocent,  or  affected  to  believe  it,  although  so 
heinous  an  attempt  had  been  undertaken  by  his  orders.*  It  was 
resolved  on  by  the  party,  to  furnish  him  with  men  and  money, 
to  the  end  he  might  have  a  competent  force  :  so  that  the  design 
then  on  foot,  after  the  seizure  of  the  two  Guises  in  the  very 
castle  of  Amboise,  where  the  King  was  in  person,  and  forcibly 
carrying  them  away,  was  nothing  less  than  from  that  very  time 
to  light  up  the  torch  of  civil  war  throughout  the  whole  kingdom. 
The  whole  body  of  the  Reformation  came  into  this  design,  and 
on  this  occasion  the  province  of  Xaintonge  is  prai?;ed  by  Beza, 
for  having  done  their  duty  like  the  rest.  |  The  same  Beza  tes- 
tifies an  extreme  regret,  that  so  just  an  enterprise  should  have 
failed,  and  attributes  the  bad  success  of  it  to  the  perfidiousness 
of  certain  people. 

27. — Four  demonstrations  that  the  riot  of  Amboise  xcas  the  loorl:  of  Protestants, 
and  that  the  motive  to  it  was  Religion.     First  demonstration. 

The  Protestants,  it  is  true,  were  desirous  of  giving  to  this 
enterprise,  as  they  do  to  all  others  of  this  nature,  a  pretext  of 
public  good,  in  order  to  inveigle  some  Catholics  into  it,  and  to 
screen  the  reformation  from  the  infamy  of  so  wickod  an  attempt. 
But  four  reasons  demonstrate  that  it  was  in  reality  an  affair  of 
religion,  and  an  enterprise  carried  on  by  the  reformed.  In  the 
first  place,  because  it  was  set  on  foot  on  the  occasion  of  the 
executions  of  some  of  the  party,  and  especially  of  Anne  du  Bourg, 
that  famous  pretended  martyr.  Beza,  after  relating  this  execu- 
tion, together  with  the  other  evil  treatments  the  Lutherans  un- 
derwent, (then  all  the  reformed  were  so  called,)  introduces  the 
history  of  this  conspiracy,  and  at  the  head  of  the  motives  which 
gave  birth  to  it,  places  these  manifestly  tyrannical  ways  of  pro- 
ceeding, and  the  menaces  that  on  this  occasion  were  levelled 
at  the  greatest  men  of  the  kingdom,  such  as  the  Prince  of  Conde 
and  the  Chastillons.  "  Then  it  was,"  says  he,  "  that  many  lords 

*  Thuan.  t.  i.  1.  xxiv.  p.  752.  La  Poplin,  livre  vi.  Bez.  Hist.  Eccl.  livre 
iii.  p.  250,  254,  270.— 1560.  f  Ibid.  313. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  17 

awaked  as  from  a  profound  sleep :  so  much  the  more,'^  con- 
tinues this  historian,  "  as  they  considered,  that  the  kings  Francis 
and  Henry  never  would  attempt  any  thing  against  the  men  of 
quality,  contenting  themselves  with  av/ing  the  great  ones  by 
the  coiTection  of  the  meaner  sort,  that  now  quite  different  meas- 
ures were  taken  ;  whereas,  in  consideration  of  the  number 
concerned,  they  should  have  applied  less  violent  remedies,  rather 
than  thus  open  a  gate  to  a  million  of  seditions." 

28. — Second  detnonstration,  icherein  the  advice  of  Beza  and  the  Divines  of  the 

Party  is  reported. 

The  confession  is  sincere,  I  must  own.  Whilst  nothing  but 
the  dregs  of  the  people  were  punished,  the  lords  of  the  party  did 
not  stir,  but  let  them  go  quietly  to  execution.  When  they,  like 
the  rest,  were  threatened,  they  bethought  themselves  of  their 
weapons,  or,  as  the  author  expresses  it,  "  Each"  man  was  forced 
to  look  at  home,  and  many  began  to  range  themselves  together, 
to  provide  for  a  just  defence,  and  to  resettle  the  ancient  and 
lawful  government  of  the  kingdom."  This  last  word  was 
necessary  to  disguise  the  rest ;  but  what  goes  before  shows 
plainly  enough  the  design  in  hand,  and  the  sequel  evinces  it  still 
more  clearly.  For  these  means  of  a  just  defence  imported,  that 
the  thing*  "  having  been  proposed  to  lawyers  and  men  of  renown 
in  France  and  Germany,  as  likewise  to  the  most  learned  divines ; 
it  was  discovered  that  they  might  lawfully  oppose  the  govern- 
ment usurped  by  the  Guises,  and  take  up  arms,  in  case  of  need 
to  repel  their  violence,  provided  the  princes  of  the  blood,  who 
in  such  cases  are  born  lawful  magistrates,  or  one  of  them,  would 
but  undertake  it,  especially  at  the  request  of  the  estates  of 
France,  or  of  the  most  sound  part  thereof."  Here  then  is  a 
second  demonstration  against  the  new  Reformation,  because 
the  divines  whom  they  consulted,  were  Protestants,  as  it  is  ex- 
pressly specified  by  De  Thou,"!"  with  them  an  unexceptionable 
author.  And  Beza  insinuates  it  plainly  enough,  when  he  says, 
they  took  the  advice  "  of  the  most  learned  divines,"  who,  in  his 
judgment,  could  be  none  else  but  the  reformed.  As  much  may 
we  believe  in  regard  to  the  lawyers,  no  Catholic  having  ever 
been  so  much  as  named. 

29. —  Third  Demonstration. 

A  third  demonstration,  arising  from  the  same  words  is,  that 
these  princes  of  the  blood,  "  born  magistrates  in  this  affair," 
were  reduced  to  the  sole  Prince  of  Conde,  a  declared  Protestant, 
although  there  were  five  or  six  more  at  the  least,  and  amongst 
others,  the  King  of  Navarre,  the  prince's  elder  brother,  and  first 
prince  of  the  blood  ;  but  whom  the  party  feared  rather  than  de- 
pended on ;  a  circumstance  that  leaves  not  the  least  doubt  that 
*  Beza,  Hist.  Eccl.  liv.  iii.  249.  f  Lib.  xxiv.  p.  372,  edit.  Gen. 

VOL.   II.  2  * 


18  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

the  design  of  the  new  Reformation  was  to  command  the  enter- 
prise. 

30, — Fourth  Demonstration. 

Nay,  not  only  the  prince  is  the  sole  person  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  whole  party,  but  what  makes  the  fourth  and  last  convic- 
tion against  the  Reformation  is,  that  this,  "  the  most  sound  part 
of  the  Estates,  whose  concurrence  was  demanded,  were  almost 
all  reformed."*  The  most  important  and  the  most  special 
orders  were  addressed  to  them,  and  the  enterprise  regarded 
them  alone  ;  for  the  end  they  proposed  to  themselves  therein 
was,  as  Beza  owns,  that  "  a  confession  of  fiith  might  be  pre- 
sented to  the  king  assisted  by  a  good  and  lawful  council. "|  It 
is  plain  enough,  this  council  would  never  have  been  good  and 
lawful,  unless  the  Prince  of  Conde,  with  his  party,  had  governed 
it,  and  the  reformed  obtained  all  they  desired.  The  action  was 
to  begin  by  a  request  they  would  have  presented  to  the  king  for 
obtaining  liberty  of  conscience  ;  and  he  who  managed  the  whole 
affair,  was  La  Renaudie,  a  man  condemned  to  rigorous  penal- 
ties for  forgery,  by  a  decree  in  parliament,  at  which  court  he 
sued  for  a  benefice  ;  after  this,  sheltering  himself  at  Geneva, 
turning  heretic  out  of  spite,  "  burning  vvith  a  desire  of  revenge, 
and  of  defacing,  by  some  bold  action,  the  infamy  of  his  con- 
demnation," J  he  undertook  to  stir  up  to  rebellion,  as  many  dis- 
affected persons  as  he  could  meet  with ;  and  at  last,  retiring 
into  the  house  of  a  Huguenot  lawyer  at  Paris,  had  the  direction 
of  all  matters  in  conjunction  with  Antony  Chandieu,  the  Protes- 
tant minister  of  Paris,  who  afterwards  gave  himself  the  name 
of  Sadael. 
31. — The  Huguenots  that  discovered  the  conspiracy  do  not  justify  the  party. 
True  it  is,  the  Huguenot  lawyer,  with  whom  he  lodged,  and 
Ligueres,  another  Huguenot,  had  a  horror  of  so  artocious  a 
crime,  and  discovered  the  plot ;  but  that  does  not  excuse  the 
Reformation,  but  shows  only  there  were  some  particular  men 
in  the  sect,  whose  conscience  was  better  than  that  of  the  divines 
and  ministers,  and  that  of  Beza  himself  and  the  whole  body 
of  the  party,§  who  ran  headlong  into  the  conspiracy  over  all  the 
provinces  of  the  realm.  Accordingly,  we  have  seen  the  same 
Beza  accusing  of  perfidiousness  these  two  faithful  subjects, 
who  alone,  of  all  the  party,  had  an  abhorrence  of,  and  dis- 
covered the  plot ;  so  that,  in  the  judgment  of  the  ministers, 
those  that  came  into  this  black  conspiracy  are  the  honest  men, 
and  those  who  detected  it  are  the  traitors. 

32. — The  protestation  of  the  Co7ispirators  does  not  justify  them. 
It  is  to  no  purpose  to  say,  that  La  Renaudie  and  all  the  con- 

*  La  Poplin.  Ibid.  p.  164,  &c.  t  Hist.  Eccl  I.  iii.  p.  313. 

t  Thuan.  Ibid.  pp.  733,  738.     §  Beza.  Thuan.  La  Poplin.  Ibid.  S.  n.  26.  L 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  19 

spirators  protested  they  had  no  design  of  attempting  any  thing 
against  the  king  or  queen,  or  the  royal  family  ;  for  is  a  man 
to  be  deemed  innocent,  because  he  had  not  formed  the  design 
of  so  execrable  a  parricide?*  Was  it  so  hght  a  matter  in  a 
state,  to  call  in  question  the  king's  majority,  and  elude  the 
ancient  laws,  which  had  fixed  it  at  fourteen  years  of  age,  by  the 
joint  consent  of  all  the  orders  of  the  realm  1  To  presume,  on 
this  pretext,  to  appoint  him  such  counsel  as  they  thought  fit  ? 
To  rush,  armed,  into  his  palace  ;  to  assault  and  force  him  ;  to 
ravish  from  this  sacred  asylum,  and  out  of  the  king's  arms,  the 
Duke  of  Guise  and  the  Cardinal  of  Lorrain,  because  the  king 
made  use  of  them  in  his  council ;  to  expose  the  whole  court 
and  the  king's  own  person  to  all  the  violence  and  all  the  blood- 
shed, that  so  tumultuous  an  attack,  and  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  might  produce?  In  a  word,  to  fly  to  arms  over  all  the 
kingdom,  with  a  resolution  not  to  lay  them  down,  till  the  king 
should  be  forced  into  a  compliance  with  all  that  they  desired. 
Were  the  particular  injury  done  to  the  Guises  here  only  to  come 
in  question,  what  right  had  the  prince  of  Conde  to  dispose  of 
these  princes,  to  deliver  them  up  to  the  hands  of  their  enemies, 
who,  as  Beza  himself  owns,!  made  a  great  part  of  the  conspi- 
rators, and  to  employ  the  sword  against  them,  as  De  Thou  says, J 
should  they  not  consent  voluntarily  to  relinquish  all  state-afiairs  1 
What !  under  pretext  of  a  particular  commission,  given,  as  Beza 
words  it,§  "  To  men  of  a  well-approved  and  wise  conduct  (such 
as  La  Renaudie)  in  order  to  inquire  secretly,  though  thoroughly 
and  exactly,  into  all  the  employments  heaped  upon  the  Guises," 
shall  a  prince  of  the  blood,  of  his  private  authority,  hold  them 
as  legally  convicted,  and  put  them  in  the  power  of  those,  whom 
he  knows  to  be  "  spurred  on  with  the  spirit  of  revenge  for  out- 
rages received  from  them,  as  well  in  their  own  persons,  as  those 
of  their  kindred  and  relations;"  for  these  are  Beza's  words. jj 
What  becomes  of  society,  if  such  wicked  attempts  be  allowed  I 
But  what  becomes  of  royalty,  if  men  dare  to  execute  them, 
sword  in  hand,  in  the  king's  own  palace,  seize  on  his  ministers, 
and  tear  them  from  his  side  ;  put  him  under  tuition  ;  his  sacred 
person  in  the  power  of  rebels,  who  would  have  possessed  them- 
selves of  his  castle,  and  upheld  such  a  treason,  with  a  war  set 
on  foot  over  all  the  kingdom  ?  This  is  the  fruit  resulting  from 
the  councils  "  of  the  most  learned  Protestant  divines  and  law- 
yers, of  the  best  renown."  This  is  what  Beza  approves,  and 
what  Protestants  defend  even  to  this  day.TT 

*  Ord.  de  Charles  V,  1373  and  74,  et  seq.  Vid.  la  Poplin.  1.  vi.  155,  et  seq. 

T  Beza,  p.  250.  |  Thuan.  pp.  732,  738. 

§  Beza,  p.  250.  ||  Ibid.  II  Burn.  1.  iii.  p.  415. 


20  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

33. — The  suppleness  and  connivance  of  Calvin. 

Calvin  is  cited,*  who,  after  the  contrivance  had  miscarried, 
wrote  two  letters,  wherein  he  testifies,  he  had  never  approved 
it.  But,  after  having  had  notice  of  a  conspiracy  of  this  nature, 
is  it  enough  to  blame  it,  without  giving  himself  any  further 
concern  to  stop  the  progress  of  so  flagitious  an  undertaking? 
Had  Beza  believed  that  Calvin  did  as  much  detest  this  deed 
as  it  deserved,  would  he  have  approved  it  himself;  would  he 
have  boasted  to  us  the  approbation  of  the  most  learned  divines 
of  the  party  ?  Who  does  not,  therefore,  perceive,  that  Calvin 
acted  here  too  remissly ;  and  provided  he  could  exculpate  him- 
self, in  case  of  ill  success,  was  nowise  averse  to  the  conspira- 
tors hazarding  the  event?  If  we  believe  Brantome,  the  Admi- 
rall  was  much  better  disposed ;  and  the  Protestant  writers 
vapor  much  at  what  he  wrote  in  the  life  of  this  nobleman, 
viz.,  "  That  none  durst  ever  speak  to  him  about  this  enterprise, 
because  they  held  him  for  a  man  of  probity,  a  man  of  worth,  a 
lover  of  honor,  who  accordingly  would  have  sent  back  the  con- 
spirators well  rebuked,  and  detected  the  whole  ;  nay,  would 
himself  have  been  aiding  to  quell  them. "J;  Still,  however,  the 
thing  was  done,  and  the  historians  of  the  party  relate  with  com- 
placency, what  ought  not  to  be  mentioned  but  with  horror. 

34. — Reflections  07i  the  uncertainty  of  histories  useless  on  this  occasion. 

There  is  no  room  here  for  eluding  a  certain  fact,  by  descant- 
ing on  the  uncertainty  of  histories,  and  the  partiality  of  histo- 
rians. §  These  commonplace  topics  are  only  fit  to  raise  a  mist. 
Should  our  reformed  arraign  the  credit  of  De  Thou,  whose 
works  they  printed  at  Geneva,  and  whose  authority,  we  have 
been  lately  told  by  a  Protestant  historian,  none  ever  disputed  ; 
they  have  but  to  read  La  Popliniere,  one  of  their  own,  and 
Beza,  one  of  their  chiefs,  to  find  their  party  convicted  of  a 
crime,  which  the  Admiral,  Protestant  as  he  was,  judged  so  un- 
worthy a  man  of  honor. 
35. — The  first  wars  under  Charles  XI,  in  which  all  the  party  concurred. — 1562. 

Yet  this  great  man  of  honor,  who  had  such  an  abhorrence 
of  the  conspiracy  of  Amboise,  either  because  it  did  not  suc- 
ceed, or  because  the  measures  were  ill  concerted,  or  because 
he  found  open  war  more  to  his  advantage,  made  no  scruple, 
two  years  after,  of  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the  rebellious 
Calvinists.  Then  the  whole  party  declared  themselves.  Calvin 
made  no  resistance  for  this  time,  and  rebellion  was  the  crime 
of  all  his  disciples.  Those  whom  their  histories  celebrate  as 
the  most  moderate,  only  said  they  ought  not  to  begin,  ||     Kow- 

*  Crit.  de  Maimb.  t.i.  Lett.  xv.  N.  6.  p.  263.    Cal.  Ep.  p.  312,  313. 
t  Crit.  de  Maimb.  Lett.  ii.  N.  2.       J  Brant,  vie  de  I'Admiral  de  Chastil. 
§ Crit.de Maimb. N.  1.4.  Burn.  t.  l.Pref.  [ILaPoplin.I.  viii.Beza,t.  ii.l.  vi.p.5. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  21 

ever,  this  was  their  joint  opinion,  that  to  suffer  themselves  to 
be  butchered,  hke  sheep,  was  not  the  profession  of  men  of 
courage ;  but,  to  be  men  of  courage  in  this  way,  they  must 
renounce  the  title  of  Reformers,  and  much  more — that  of  Con- 
fessors of  the  Faith,  and  Martyrs ;  for  it  is  not  in  vain  that 
St.  Paul  said,  after  David,  "  We  are  accounted  as  sheep  for 
the  slaughter  ;"*  and  Jesus  Christ  himself:  "  Behold  !  I  send 
you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves. ""f  I  have  by  me 
Calvin's  own  letters,  well  attested,  wherein,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  troubles  of  France,  he  thinks  he  does  enough,  in  writing 
to  the  Baron  des  Adrets,  against  pillaging  and  violence,  against 
image-breaking,  and  against  the  depredation  of  shrines  and 
church  treasures,  without  public  authority.  To  be  satisfied,  as 
he  is,  with  telling  the  soldiers  thus  enrolled,  "  Do  violence  to 
no  man,  and  be  content  with  your  pay," J  adding  nothing  more; 
is  speaking  of  this  militia  as  you  do  of  a  lawful  militia :  and  it 
is  thus  that  St.  John  the  Baptist  decided  in  behalf  of  those  who 
bore  arms  under  their  lawful  princes.  The  doctrine,  which 
allowed  taking  them  up  in  the  cause  of  religion,  was  afterwards 
ratified,  I  do  not  say  by  the  ministers  in  particular  only,  but  also 
in  common  by  their  synods,  and  it  was  necessary  to  proceed  to 
this  decision  in  order  to  engage  in  the  war  those  Protestants, 
who,  from  a  sense  of  the  ancient  principles  of  Christian  Faith, 
and  the  submission  they  had  so  frequently  promised  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  new  Reformation,  did  not  believe  that  a  Christian 
should  maintain  the  liberty  of  conscience  otherwise  than  by  suf- 
fering, according  to  the  gospel,  in  all  patience  and  humility. 
The  brave  and  wise  La  Noue,  who  was  at  first  of  this  opinion, 
was  drawn  into  a  contrary  sentiment  and  practice  by  the  author- 
ity of  the  ministers  and  synods.  The  Church  was  for  that  time 
infallible,  and  they  yielded  blindly  to  her  authority  a'gainst  their 
own  consciences. 

36. — Decisions  of  the  Ccdvinistic  national  Synods,  in  approbation  of  taking  up 

arms. — 1563. 

Now  the  express  decisions  relating  to  this  matter  were,  for 
the  most  part,  made  in  provincial  synods  ;  but,  that  there  be 
no  occasion  to  search  for  them  there,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  ob- 
serve, that  these  decisions  were  preceded  by  the  national  Synod 
of  Lyons  in  1563,  Art.  38,  by  particular  facts  of  this  import, — 
*'  That  a  minister  of  Limousin,  who,  in  other  respects  had  be- 
haved uprightly,  terrified  by  the  threats  of  his  enemies,  had  \\Tote 
to  the  queen-mother,  that  he  never  had  consented  to  the  bearing 
of  arms,  although  he  had  consented  and  contributed  thereto. 
Item,  that  he  had  promised  not  to  preach  till  the  king  shoul  1 
grant  him  leave.  Since  that  time,  having  a  sense  of  his  fault, 
+  Rom.  viii.  36.  +  Matt.  x.  16.  |  Luke  iii.  14. 


22  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

he  had  made  a  pubHc  confession  of  it  before  all  the  people,  on 
a  day  of  celebrating  the  Supper,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
ministers  of  the  country  and  of  all  the  faithful.  The  query  is, 
whether  he  may  resume  his  pastoral  charge  ?  the  opinion  is, 
he  may :  nevertheless,  he  shall  write  to  him  by  whom  he  had 
been  tempted,  to  notify  to  him  his  repentance,  and  shall  entreat 
him  to  let  the  queen  know  as  much,  and  all  whomsoever  this 
scandal  to  his  Church  might  have  reached ;  and  it  shall  be  in 
the  breast  of  the  Synod  of  Limousin  to  remove  him  to  some 
other  place,  as  they  shall  think  most  prudent." 

37. — Another  decision. 
It  is  so  Christian  and  so  heroic  an  act,  in  the  new  Reforma- 
tion, to  make  war  against  their  sovereign  for  religion's  sake, 
that  it  is  made  criminal  in  a  minister  to  have  repented  of,  and 
asked  pardon  for  it  of  his  queen.  Reparation  must  be  made 
before  all  the  people  in  the  most  solemn  acts  of  religion,  namely, 
at  the  Supper,  for  respectful  excuses  made  to  the  queen  ;  and 
so  far  must  the  insolence  be  carried,  as  to  have  it  declared  to 
her  in  person,  that  this  tender  of  respect  is  recalled,  to  the  end 
she  may  be  assured  that,  from  henceforth,  they  will  have  no 
manner  of  regard  for  her ;  nay,  they  are  not  certain,  after  all 
this  reparation  and  retracting,  whether  or  no  the  scandal  which 
this  submission  had  caused  amongst  the  reformed  people  would 
be  quite  defaced.  Therefore  it  cannot  be  denied  that  obedience 
was  scandalous  to  them  :  thus  it  is  decided  by  a  national  synod. 
But  here  is,  in  the  forty-eighth  article,  another  decision  which 
will  not  appear  less  wonderful :  an  abbot  arrived  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Gospel,  had  burnt  all  his  titles,  and  during  six  years 
had  not  suffered  Mass  to  be  sung  in  the  abbey.  What  a  Ref- 
ormation !  but  here  lies  the  stress  of  his  encomium  :  Nay,  hath 
always  comported  himseiii  faithfully,  and  borne  arms  for  the  main- 
tenance  of  the  Gospel.  A  holy  abbot,  indeed,  who  far  remote 
from  popery,  no  less  than  from  the  discipline  of  St.  Bernard  and 
St.  Benedict,  would  not  endure  either  Mass  or  vespers  in  his 
abbey,  whatever  might  have  been  the  founder's  express  injunc- 
tion ;  and  moreover,  dissatisfied  with  those  spiritual  weapons 
which  St.  Paul  so  much  recommended,  yet  too  feeble  for  our 
warrior's  courage,  has  generously  carried  arms,  and  drawn  the 
sword  against  his  prince  in  defence  of  the  new  Gospel.  Let 
him  be  admitted  to  the  Supper,  concludes  the  whole  national 
Synod,  and  this  mystery  of  peace  becomes  the  remuneration  for 
that  war  he  had  waged  against  his  country. 

38. — The  same  Doctrine  perpetuated  in  the  succeeding  Synods  till  our  days. 

This  tradition  of  the  party  has  been  handed  down  to  subse- 
quent times  successively  ;  and  the  Synod  of  Alais,  in  1620,  re 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  23 

turn  thanks  to  M.  de  Chastillon  for  his  letter,  wherein  "  He 
protested  to  them,  that  he  would  employ  whatever  was  in  his 
power  after  the  example  of  his  predecessors,  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ."  This  was  their  style. 
The  juncture  of  times  and  the  affairs  of  Alais,  explain  the  inten- 
tion of  this  lord  ;  and  what  the  Admiral  de  Chastillon  and  Dan- 
delot,  his  predecessors,  meant  by  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  well 
known. 

39. — The  spirit  of  the  Huguenots  in  these  wars. 

The  ministers,  who  taught  this  doctrine,  thought  to  impose 
upon  the  world,  by  setting  up  that  fine  discipline  in  their  troops 
so  much  commended  by  De  Thou.  It  lasted  indeed  about  three 
months  :  after  this,  the  soldiers,  soon  carried  away  into  the  most 
grievous  excesses,  thought  themselves  well  excused,  if  they  did 
but  cry  out  Long  live  the  Gospel ;  and  the  Baron  des  Adrets, 
who  knew  full  well  the  temper  of  this  militia,  upon  his  being 
reproached,  as  a  Huguenot  historian*  relates,  that  after  quitting 
them  he  had  done  nothing  worthy  of  his  first  exploits,  excused 
himself  by  saying,  there  was  nothing  he  durst  not  enterprise 
"  with  a  soldiery,  whose  pay  was  revenge,  passion,  and  honor," 
whom  "  he  had  bereft  of  all  hopes  of  pardon"  by  the  cruelties 
he  had  engaged  them  in.  If  we  believe  the  ministers,  our  Re- 
formed are  still  in  the  same  dispositions  ;  and  the  most  volu- 
minous of  all  their  writers,  the  author  of  new  systems,  and  the 
interpreter  of  prophecies,  has  but  lately  published  in  print,  that 
*'  The  fury,  at  this  day,  those  are  in  who  have  suffered  violence, 
and  the  rage  they  have  conceived  at  being  forced,  strengthens 
the  love  and  attachment  they  had  to  truth."!  This,  according 
to  the  ministers,  is  the  spirit  that  animates  these  new  martyrs. 
40. — Whether  the  example  of  Catholics  vindicates  the  Huguenots. 

It  serves  not  the  turn  of  our  Reformed,  to  excuse  themselves, 
as  to  the  civil  wars,  by  the  examples  of  Catholics  under  Henry 
III  and  Henry  IV,  since,  besides  the  incongruity  of  this  Jeru- 
salem's defending  herself  by  the  authority  of  Tyre  and  Sabylon, 
they  are  very  sensible  that  the  body  of  Catholics  which  detested 
these  excesses,  and  remained  faithful  to  their  kings,  was  always 
great :  whereas,  in  the  Huguenot  party,  scarce  two  or  three 
persons  of  note  can  be  found  that  stood  firm  in  their  loyalty. 

41. — Vain  pretext  of  Calvinists,  who  pretend  that  these  xcars  did  not  properly 

concern  Religion. 

Here  again  they  make  fresh  efforts  to  show  that  these  wars 
were  merely  political,  and  nothing  appertaining  to  religion. 
These  empty  pretexts  deserve  not  refutation,  nothing  more  being 
necessary  for  discovering  the  drift  of  these  wars,  than  to  read 

*  D.  Aub.  t.  i.  1.  hi.  ch.  ix.  pp.  155,  156.  f  Jur.  Accompliss.  des  Proph. 
Avis  k  tous  les  Chr6t.    Towards  the  middle  of  his  Preface  or  Introduction. 


24  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

the  treaties  of  peace  and  the  edicts  of  pacification, — of  which 
liberty  of  conscience,  with  some  other  privileges  for  the  Prot- 
estants, was  always  the  main  import :  but  because,  at  this  time, 
men  are  bent  more  than  ever  upon  darkening  the  clearest  fact, 
duty  requires  of  me  I  should  speak  something  on  this  head. 
42. — Ilhisions  of  Mr.  Burnet, 

Mr.  Burnet,*  who  hath  taken  in  hand  the  defence  of  the  con- 
spiracy of  Amboise,  enters  also  the  lists  in  vindication  of  the 
civil  wars  ;  but  after  a  manner  which  shows  plainly  he  is  ac- 
quainted with  no  more  of  our  history  and  laws  than  what  he  has 
picked  up  from  the  most  ignorant  and  the  most  passionate  of 
all  Protestant  authors.  I  forgive  his  mistaking  that  famous 
Triumvirate  under  Charles  IX,  for  the  union  of  the  King  of 
Navarre  with  the  Cardinal  of  Lorrain,  whereas,  unquestionably, 
it  was  that  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  of  the  Constable  de  Mont- 
morency, and  the  Marshal  of  St.  Andrew :  nor  should  I  even 
have  thought  it  worth  my  while  to  have  pointed  out  these  sorts 
of  blunders,  were  it  not  that  they  convict  him,  who  fell  into  them, 
of  not  having  so  much  as  seen  one  good  author.  It  is  a  thing 
less  supportable  to  have  taken,  as  he  has  done,  the  disorder  of 
Yassi  for  a  premeditated  enterprise  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  with 
a  design  to  break  the  edicts,  although  De  Thou,t  whose  tes- 
timony he  must  not  reject,  and  (except  Beza,  too  prejudiced  by 
passion  to  be  credited  on  this  occasion)  even  Protestant  authors, 
aver  the  contrary.  But  to  say  that  the  regency  had  been  given 
to  Antony,  King  of  Navarre  ;  to  descant,  as  he  does,  ou  the 
authority  of  a  regent ;  to  affirm  that  this  prince,  having  out- 
stripped his  power  in  -the  revocation  of  the  edicts,  the  people 
might  join  themselves  to  the  first  prince  of  the  blood  after  him, 
namely,  to  the  prince  of  Conde  ;  to  carry  on  this  empty  reason- 
ing, and  say  that,  after  the  death  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  the 
regency  devolved  to  the  prince  his  brother,  and  that  the  founda- 
tion of  the  civil  wars  was  the  refusal  made  to  this  prince  "  of  the 
government,  to  whom  it  of  right  belonged,"  J  is,  to  speak  plainly 
of  a  man  so  positive,  mixing  too  much  passion  with  too  much 
ignorance  of  our  affairs. 

43. — His  gross  blunders  and  p'eat  ignorance  of  the  affairs  of  France. 

For,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  certain,  that  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
IX  the  regency  was  conferred  upon  Catharine  of  Medicis  by  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  whole  kingdom,  and  even  of  the  King 
of  Navarre.  Mr.  Burnet's  lawyers,  who  proved,  as  he  pretends, 
"  that  no  woman  might  be  admitted  to  the  regency,"  were  igno- 
rant of  a  standing  custom,  confirmed  by  many  examples  ever 
since  the  time  of  Queen  Blanche  and  St.  Lewis. §     These  same 

+  Part  ii.  1.  iii.  p,  415,  &.c.  f  Thuan.  1.  xxix.  p.  77,  et  seq.  La  Poplin,  I.  vii. 
pp.  283,  234.    I  Part  2. 1,  iii.  p.  416.        §  Vide  la  Poplin.  1.  vi.  pp.  155,  156. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  25 

lawyers,  according  to  Mr.  Burnet's  relation,  presumed  even  to 
say,  "  that  two  and  twenty  was  the  soonest  that  any  King  of 
France  had  been  ever  held  to  be  of  age  to  assume  the  govern- 
ment, contrary  to  the  express  tenor  of  the  ordinance  of  Charles 
the  Fifth,  in  1374,  which  has  always  been  a  standing  law  in  the 
whole  kingdom  without  any  contradiction.*  To  quote  these 
lawyers,  and  make  a  law  for  France  of  their  ignorant  and  iniqui- 
tous decisions,  is  erecting  into  a  state  law  the  pretext  of  rebels. 
44. — Sequel  of  Mr.  BurneVs  Fallacies. 

Neither  did  the  Prince  of  Conde  ever  pretend  to  the  regency, 
no,  not  even  after  the  death  of  the  King  his  brother ;  and  so  far 
was  he  from  calling  in  question  the  authority  of  Qneen  Catha- 
rine, that,  on  the  contrary,  at  his  rising  in  arms,  he  grounded 
himself  on  nothing  but  the  secret  orders  he  pretended  to  have 
received.  But  what  deceived  Mr.  Burnet  is,  perchance,  his 
having  heard  it  said,  that  those  who  joined  themselves  to  the 
Prince  of  Conde  for  the  King's  defence,  who,  they  pretended, 
was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  Guises,  gave  to  the  Prince 
the  title  of  lawful  Protector  and  Defender  of  the  King  and 
kingdom. I  An  Englishman,  dazzled  with  the  title  of  Protector, 
imagined  he  saw  in  this  title,  according  to  the  usage  of  his 
country,  the  authority  of  a  regent.  The  Prince  never  so  much 
as  dreamt  of  it,  since  even  his  elder  brother,  the  King  of  Na- 
varre, was  still  living  ;  on  the  contrary,  this  empty  title  of  Pro- 
tector and  Defender  of  the  kingdom,  which  in  France  signifies 
just  nothing,  was  given  him  on  no  other  account  but  because 
it  was  very  well  perceived  there  was  no  lawful  title  that  could 
be  given  him. 
45. — The  French  Cahinists  extricate  themselves  no  better  out  of  this  difficulty. 

Let  us  then  leave  Mr.  Burnet,  who,  though  a  foreigner,  pro- 
nounces thus  peremptorily  on  our  laws,  without  knowing  so  much 
as  the  first  rudiments  of  them.  The  French  give  the  thing  a 
different  turn,  and  ground  themselves  on  some  of  the  Queen's 
letters,  "  who  begged  of  the  Prince  to  preserve  the  mother  and 
children,  and  the  whole  kingdom,  against  those  who  had  a  mind 
to  ruin  all. "J  But  two  convincing  reasons  leave  no  shelter  for 
this  vain  pretext.  In  the  first  place,  because  the  Queen,  who 
in  this  manner  addressed  herself  privately  to  the  Prince,  ex- 
ceeded her  power  ;  it  being  agreed  that  the  regency  was  con- 
ferred upon  her  on  condition  that  she  did  nothing  of  consequence 
except  in  council,  with  the  participation  and  by  the  advice  of 
the  King  of  Navarre,  as  the  first  Prince  of  the  blood,  and  lieu- 
tenant-general, established  by  the  consent  of  the  Estates  in  all 

*  Vide  la  Poplin.  1.  vi.  pp.  616.         j  Thuan.  1.  xxix.  1562.  La  Poplin.  1.  viii. 
t  Critiq.  du  P.  Maimb.  let.  xvii.  N.  5.  p.  303.    Thuan.  1.  xxix.  An.  1552, 
pp.  79,  81.    Thuan.  1.  xxvi.  p.  787,  &c. 
VOL.  II.  3 


26  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

the  provinces  and  armies  during  the  minority.  As,  therefore, 
the  King  of  Navarre  felt  that  she  was  driving  all  to  ruin  through 
that  restless  ambition  which  tormented  her,  of  preserving  her 
authority,  and  that  she  wholly  turned  on  the  side  of  the  Prince 
and  the  Huguenots,  the  just  fear  he  was  in  of  their  becoming 
masters,  and  lest  the  Queen,  through  despair,  should  at  length 
even  cast  herself  into  their  arms  together  with  the  King,  made 
him  break  all  the  measures  of  this  Princess.  The  other  Princes 
of  the  blood  joined  with  him,  no  less  than  the  chief  men  of  the 
kingdom  and  the  parliament.  The  Duke  of  Guise  did  nothing 
but  by  the  orders  of  this  King  ;  and  the  Queen  so  well  knew 
she  exceeded  her  power  in  what  she  requested  of  the  Prince, 
that  she  never  durst  use  any  other  words,  in  her  addresses  to 
him,  than  those  of  invitation ;  so  that  these  so  boasted  letters 
are  nothing  else,  in  reality,  but  the  anxieties  of  Catharine,  not 
the  lawful  injunctions  of  a  regent ;  so  much  the  more  (and  it  is 
the  second  proof)  as  the  Queen  gave  ear  to  the  Prince  but  for 
a  moment,  and  through  the  vain  terror  she  had  conceived  of 
being  stripped  of  her  authority ;  insomuch,  that  it  was  easily 
believed,  says  De  Thou,  she  would  come  off  from  this  design 
as  soon  as  ever  she  should  get  the  better  of  her  fears.* 

46. — The  Calvinists  convicted  by  Beza.] 
Accordingly,  the  event  discovers  that  she  entered  sincerely 
into  the  measures  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  thenceforward 
never  left  negotiating  with  the  prince  in  order  to  reclaim  him  to 
his  duty.  Wherefore,  these  letters  of  the  Queen,  and  all  that 
followed  thereupon,  are  counted  nothing  by  historians  but  a  vain 
pretext.  Nay,  Beza  makes  it  plain  enough  that  all  turned  on 
religion,  on  the  breach  of  edicts,  and  on  the  pretended  murder 
of  Vassi.J  The  Prince  neither  stirred,  nor  gave  orders  to  the 
Admiral  to  take  up  arms,  but  "  requested,  and  more  than  en- 
treated, by  those  of  the  new  religion,  to  grant  them  his  protection, 
under  the  name  and  authority  of  the  King  and  his  edicts." 

47. — The  first  War  resolved  upon  by  the  advice  of  all  the  Ministers,  and  the 
peace  concluded  notwithstanding  their  opposition. — Testimony  of  Beza. 

It  was  in  an  assembly,  at  which  were  present  the  chief  men 
of  their  Church,  that  the  question  was  proposed,  whether  they 
might  in  conscience  execute  justice  on  the  Duke  of  Guise,  and 
that  with  no  great  hazard,  for  thus  the  case  was  worded  ;  and 
the  answer  returned  was,  that  "  it  was  better  to  suffer  what  might 
please  God,  putting  themselves  only  on  the  defensive,  should 
necessity  reduce  the  churches  to  that  point.  Yet,  whatever 
might  happen,  they  ought  not  to  be  the  first  to  draw  the  sword. "§ 
Here,  then,  is  a  point  resolved  in  the  new  reformation,  that  they 

♦  Thuan.  xxvi.  p.  79.  f  Lib.  ^^.  %  Ibid.  p.  4.  §  Ibid.  p.  6. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  27 

may,  without  scruple,  make  war  on  a  lawful  power,  at  least  in 
their  own  defence.  Now,  they  took  for  an  assault  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  edicts  ;  so  that  the  reformation  laid  it  down  for  a 
certain  doctrine,  that  she  might  fight  for  the  liberty  of  conscience, 
in  contradiction  not  only  to  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  Apostles, 
but  also  to  the  solemn  protestation  Beza  had  but  just  made  at 
his  demanding  justice  of  the  King  of  Navarre  ;  viz.,  "  that  it 
appertained  to  the  Church  of  God  to  suffer  blows,  and  not  to 
give  them  ;  but  that  he  ought  to  remember,  this  anvil  had  worn 
out  many  a  hammer.*  This  saying,  so  much  extolled  by  the 
party,  proved  a  deceit,  since,  after  awhile,  the  anvil  itself  com- 
menced to  strike  contrary  to  nature,  and,  wearied  with  bearing 
blows,  repaid  them  in  its  turn.  Beza,  who  glories  in  this  con- 
ceit, in  another  place  makes  this  important  declaration  in  the 
face  of  all  Christendom,!  "  that  he  had  warned  of  their  duty 
as  well  the  Prince  of  Conde  as  the  Admiral,  and  all  the  other 
lords  and  men  of  every  degree,  that  made  profession  of  the 
Gospel,  to  induce  them  to  maintain,  by  all  means  possible  to  them, 
the  authority  of  the  King's  edicts  and  the  innocence  of  the  poor 
oppressed ;  and  ever  after  hath  continued  in  this  same  will,  ex- 
horting, nevertheless,  every  person  to  use  his  arms  in  the  most 
modest  manner  possible,  and  to  seek,  next  to  God's  honor,  peace 
in  all  tilings,  provided  they  do  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  de- 
ceived and  imposed  upon."  What  a  delusion  to  persuade  him- 
self, whilst  he  actually  authorizes  a  civil  war,  that  he  has  ful- 
filled his  duty  by  recommending  modesty  to  a  people  up  in  arms  I 
And  as  for  peace,  did  he  not  see  that  the  security  he  required 
for  it  vvould  always  afford  pretexts,  either  of  keeping  it  at  a  dis- 
tance, or  of  breaking  it  1  In  the  meantime  he  was  by  his  preach- 
ing, as  himself  confesses,  one  of  the  principal  inciters  to  the 
war.  One  of  the  fruits  of  his  gospel  was,  to  teach  this  new  duty  to 
subjects  and  officers  of  the  crown.  All  the  ministers  concurred 
in  his  sentiments,  and  he  owns  himself,^  that  when  peace  was 
mentioned,  the  ministers  so  much  opposed  it,  that  the  prince, 
resolved  on  concluding  it,  was  forced  to  exclude  all  of  them  from 
the  debate  ;  for  they  were  determined  to  hinder  the  party  from 
suffering  the  least  exception  to  that  edict,  which  was  most  favor- 
able to  them,  namely,  that  of  January.  But  the  prince,  who 
had  consented, for  peace  sake,  to  some  light  restrictions,  "caused 
them  to  be  read  before  the  nobility,  suffering  none  else  but  the 
g«entlemen  bearing  arms  to  speak  their  opinions,  as  he  declared 
openly  in  the  assembly ;  so  that  the  ministers,  after  that  time, 
were  neither  heard  nor  admitted  to  give  in  their  advice  ;"§  by 
this  means  peace  was  made,  and  all  clauses  of  the  new  edict 
make  it  appear  that  nothing  but  religion  was  contended  for  in 

*  Beza,  1.  vi.  p.  3.      ]  Ibid.  p.  293.      |  Ibid.  pp.  280,  282.      §  Ibid.  p.  285. 


28  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

this  war.  Nay,  it  is  manifest,  had  the  ministers  been  hearkened 
to,  it  would  have  been  continued  in  hopes  of  gaining  more  ad- 
vantageous conditions  which  they  proposed  at  large  in  writing, 
adding  many  things  even  to  the  edict  of  January ;  and  they 
made,  says  Beza,  a  declaration  of  them,  "  to  the  end  posterity 
might  be  informed  how  they  comported  themselves  in  this  affair."* 
This,  therefore,  stands  an  eternal  testimony,  that  the  ministers 
approved  the  war,  and  were  more  bent  than  the  princes  and  the 
armed  soldiers  themselves,  on  pursuing  it  from  the  sole  motive 
of  religion,  which  they  pretend,  at  present,  was  quite  out  of  the 
question  ;  yet  was  the  fundamental  cause  of  the  first  wars,  by 
the  consent  of  all  authors,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant. 

48. — The  other  loars  are  destitute  of  all  pretext. 
The  rest  of  the  wars  have  not  so  much  as  a  color  of  pretext, 
the  queen  then  concurring  with  all  the  powers  of  the  state  ; 
neither  was  there  any  other  excuse  alleged  but  discontents  and 
contraventions  ;  things  which,  in  the  end,  have  no  kind  of  weight, 
but  in  presupposing  this  error,  that  subjects  have  a  right  in  the 
cause  of  religion  to  take  up  arms  against  their  king,  although 
religion  prescribes  nothing  but  to  suffer  and  obey. 

49. — Ansioers  of  Mr.  Jurieu. 

I  now  leave  the  Calvinists  to  examine  whether  there  be  the 
least  appearance  of  solidity  in  all  Mr.  Jurieu's  discourses,  where 
he  says,  that  this  same  is  a  quarrel  "  wherein  religion  came  in 
merely  by  chance,  and  to  serve  for  a  pretext  only  ;"|  since,  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  manifest,  religion  was  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and 
the  reformation  of  the  government  was  nothing  but  a  cloak  to 
cover  their  shame  for  having  begun  a  war  of  religion,  after  so 
many  protestations  how  much  they  abhorred  all  such  conspiracies. 

But  here  is  another  kind  of  excuse  which  this  artful  minister 
prepares  for  his  party  as  to  the  conspiracy  of  Amboise,  when  he 
answers,  that,  "  be  it  as  it  will,  it  is  no  otherwise  criminal  than 
by  the  gospel  rules. "J  It  is  then  a  trifle  for  Reformers  who 
boast  nought  to  us  but  the  gospel,  to  form  a  conspiracy  that  is 
condemned  by  the  gospel ;  nor  will  they  be  much  concerned, 
provided  it  only  militates  against  these  sacred  ordinances.  But 
what  follows  in  Mr.  Jurieu  will  make  it  evident  he  understands 
as  little  of  morality  as  Christianity,  since  he  even  dares  to  write 
these  words  : — "  The  tyranny  of  the  princes  of  Guise  could  not 
be  overthrown  without  a  great  effusion  of  blood ;  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  suffers  not  that :  but  if  this  enterprise  be  scanned 
according  to  the  rules  of  worldly  morality,  it  is  not  at  all  crim- 
inal."§    It  was,  nevertheless,  according  to  the  rules  of  worldly 

*  Beza,  1.  vi.  p.  285.  f  Apol.  pour  la  Reform,  part  1.  ch.  x.  p.  301. 

t  Ibid.  ch.  XV.  p.  453.  §  Ibid. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  29 

morality,  that  the  Admiral  condemned  the  conspiracy  as  so 
shameful  and  detestable,  and,  according  to  the  dictates  of  a  man 
of  honor,  not  barely  of  a  Christian,  that  he  conceived  such  a 
horror  of  it ;  nor  is  the  corruption  of  the  world  as  yet  advanced 
so  far  as  to  discover  innocence  in  deeds  equally  subversive  of 
all  laws  human  and  divine. 

The  minister  succeeds  no  better  in  his  design  when,  instead 
of  vindicating  his  pretended  Reformers  in  their  rebellions,  he 
sets  himself  to  point  out  the  corruption  of  the  court  against 
which  they  rebelled,  as  if  reformers  could  have  been  ignorant 
of  that  apostolical  command,  "  Obey  your  masters,  though  they 
be  fro  ward."* 

His  long  recriminations,  with  which  he  fills  a  volume,  are  not 
a  whit  more  to  the  purpose,  since  this  the  main  question  will 
always  returji,  whether  those  who  are  boasted  of  to  us  as  the 
reformers  of  mankind,  have  diminished  or  increased  its  evils, 
and  whether  they  are  to  be  considered  as  Reformers  who  cor- 
rect them,  or  rather  as  scourges  whom  God  sends  to  punish  them. 

50. —  Q,iiestion  concerning  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation. — Whether  it  ivas  a 
spirit  of  meekness  or  of  violence. — 1514. 

Here  might  that  question  be  considered,  whether  it  be  true 
that  the  Reformation,  as  she  boasts,  never  aimed  at  establishing 
herself  by  force  ;  but  the  doubt  is  easily  resolved  by  all  the 
above  mentioned  facts.  As  long  as  the  Reformation  was  weak, 
it  is  true  she  always  seemed  submissive  ;  nay,  gave  out  for  a 
fundamental  point  of  her  religion  that  she  beUeved  it  not  only 
unlawful  to  use  force,  but  even  to  repel  it.|  But  it  was  soon 
discovered  this  was  of  that  kind  of  modesty  which  fear  inspires, 
a  fire  hidden  in  ashes  ;  for  no  sooner  could  the  Reformation 
attain  to  be  uppermost  in  any  kingdom,  but  she  was  for  ruling 
uncontrolled.  In  the  first  place,  no  security  was  there  for  priests 
and  bishops  ;  secondly,  the  true  Catholics  were  proscribed,  ban- 
ished, deprived  of  their  goods,  and  in  some  places  of  life,  by  the 
law  of  the  state,  as  for  instance,  in  Sweden.  The  fact  is  cer- 
tain, whatever  may  have  been  said  to  the  contrary.  This  was 
what  they  came  to  who  at  first  cried  so  loud  against  violence  ; 
and  there  needs  but  to  consider  the  acrimony,  the  bitterness,  and 
insolence  which  was  diffused  through  the  first  books  and  the 
first  sermons  of  these  Reformers ;  their  bloody  invectives,  the 
calumnies  they  blackened  our  doctrine  with,  the  sacrileges,  the 
impieties,  the  idolatries  with  which  they  incessantly  reproached 
us  ;  the  hatred  they  inspired  against  us,  the  plunde rings  which 
were  the  result  of  their  first  preaching,  "the  spite  and  violence" J 
which  appeared  in  their  seditious  libels  set  up  against  the  Mass  ; 

*  1  Pet.  ii.  18.  t  Grit,  t,  I  Lett,  viii,  N.  I.  p.  129,  et  seq.  Lett.  xvi.  N.  9, 
p.  315,&c.  J  Beza,  1.  i.  p.  J6. 

VOL.  II.  3* 


30  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

in  order  to  form  a  judgment  of  what  was  to  be  expected  from 
such  beginnings. 

51. — Sequel  of  the  violent  spirit  which  predominated  in  the  Reformation. 

But  many  wise  men,  say  they,  condemned  these  Hbels  ;*  so 
much  the  worse  for  the  Protestant  party,  whose  transports  were 
so  extreme,  that  all  the  wise  men  who  remained  in  it  could  not 
repress  them.  These  libels  were  spread  all  over  Paris,  posted 
up  and  dispersed  in  every  street ;  fixed  even  to  the  door  of  the 
king's  chamber ;!  nor  did  the  wise  ones  who  disapproved  this, 
use  any  efficacious  measures  for  its  prevention.  When  that 
pretended  martyr,  Anne  du  Bourg,  had  declared  in  the  tone  of 
a  prophet  to  the  president  Minard,  whom  he  challenged,  that  in 
spite  of  his  refusing  to  absent  himself  and  decline  hearing  his 
cause,  he  never  should  sit  as  judge  in  it,J  the  Protestants  knew 
full  well  how  to  make  good  his  prophecy,  and  accordingly  the 
president  was  murdered  towards  the  evening  on  entering  his 
house.  It  was  known  afterwards,  that  Le  Maitre  and  St.  Andre, 
both  of  them  very  averse  to  the  new  gospel,  would  have  met 
with  the  like  fate,  had  they  come  to  the  court ;  so  dangerous  a 
thing  it  is  to  offend  the  Reformation,  though  weak !  And  we 
learn  from  Beza  himself,  that  Stuart,  a  relation  of  the  queen's, 
"  a  man  ready  for  any  execution,  and  a  most  zealous  Protestant, 
made  frequent  visits  to  the  prisoners  held  in  the  parliament  jail 
on  the  score  of  religion. "§  He  could  not  be  convicted  of  having 
struck  the  blow,  yet  we  see  at  least  through  what  channel  the 
communication  might  flow  ;  and,  howsoever  that  may  be,  neither 
did  the  party  want  men  of  desperate  resolution  ;  nor  can  any  be 
accused  of  this  combination,  but  those  who  interested  themselves 
for  Anne  du  Bourg.  It  is  no  hard  matter  to  vent  prophecies, 
when  such  angels  are  at  hand  to  execute  them.  The  assurance 
of  Anne  du  Bourg  in  foretelling  so  distinctly  what  was  to  happen, 
discovers  plainly  the  good  intelligence  he  had  received ;  and 
what  is  said  in  the  history  of  De  Thou,  in  order  to  show  him  a 
prophet,  rather  than  an  accomplice  of  such  a  crime,  smells  rank 
of  an  addition  from  Geneva.  We  must  not,  therefore,  wonder 
that  a  party  which  nursed  such  daring  spirits,  should  take  off 
the  mask  as  soon  as  ever  a  weak  reign  opened  a  prospect  of 
success,  which  we  have  seen  they  never  failed  to  do. 

52. —  Vain  excuses. 

A  new  Defender  of  the  Reformation  is  persuaded,  from  the 
dissolute  behaviour,  and  entire  conduct  of  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
that  there  vvas  "  more  of  ambition  than  religion  in  what  he  did  ;" 
and  he  owns,  that  religion  "  was  of  no  other  use  to  him,  than  to 

*  Beza,  1.  i.  p.  16.  f  Thuan.  lib.  xxiii.  An.  1559,  p.  169. 

J  Beza,  1.  i.    La  Poplin.  1.  v.  p.  144.  §  L.  iii.  p.  248,  An.  1660. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  31 

furnish  him  with  instruments  of  revenge."*  He  thinks  by  that 
means  to  resolve  all  into  policy,  and  justify  his  own  religion  : 
not  reflecting  this  is  the  very  thing  we  charge  them  with,  viz. 
that  a  religion  styling  itself  reformed,  was  so  prompt  an  instru- 
ment of  revenge  to  an  ambitious  prince.  It  is  nevertheless  the 
crime  of  the  whole  party.  But  what  does  this  author  say  to  us 
of  the  pillaging  of  churches  and  vestries,  of  breaking  down 
images  and  altars  1  Why  truly  he  thinks  to  clear  all  by  saying 
that  "  the  prince,  neither  by  prayers,  nor  by  remonstrances,  nor 
even  by  chastisements,  could  put  a  stop  to  these  disorders. ""j* 
This  is  no  manner  of  excuse  ;  it  is  a  conviction  of  that  violence, 
which  reigned  in  the  party,  whose  fury  the  very  heads  could  not 
restrain.  But  I  am  very  much  afraid  that  they  acted  by  the 
same  spirit  with  Cranmer  and  the  rest  of  the  English  reformers, 
who,uponthe  complaints  that  were  made  against  image-breakers, 
"  although  they  had  a  mind  to  check  the  heat  of  the  people  and 
keep  it  within  compass,  yet  were  unwilling  it  should  be  done 
after  such  a  manner  as  to  dishearten  their  friends  too  much."t 
This  was  the  case  of  the  chief  leaders  of  our  Calvinists,  who, 
though  they  judged  themselves  obliged  in  honor  to  blame  these 
enormities,  yet  we  do  not  find  they  ever  did  justice  on  the  au- 
thors of  them.  Beza's  history  will  suffice  to  show,  that  our 
Reformed  were  always  ready  at  the  least  signal  to  run  to  arms, 
to  break  open  prisons,  to  seize  on  churches,  nor  was  there  any 
thing  ever  seen  more  factious.  Who  is  ignorant  of  the  cruelties 
exercised  by  the  Queen  of  Navarre  against  priests  and  religious? 
The  towers  from  which  the  Catholics  were  cast  headlong,  and 
the  deep  pits  they  were  flung  into,  are  shown  to  this  day.  The 
wells  of  the  bishop's  palace  at  Nismes,  and  the  cruel  instru- 
ments employed  to  force  them  to  the  Protestant  sermons,  are 
not  less  known  to  the  whole  world.  We  have  still  the  informa- 
tions and  decrees,  by  which  it  appears  that  these  bloody  execu- 
tions were  the  deliberate  resolves  of  Protestants  in  council  as- 
sembled. We  have  the  original  orders  of  generals,  and  those 
of  cities,  at  the  request  of  consistories,  to  compel  the  Papists  to 
embrace  the  Reformation,  by  taxes,  by  quartering  soldiers  upon 
them,  by  demolishing  their  houses,  and  uncovering  the  roofs. 
Those  who  withdrew,  to  escape  these  violences,  were  stripped 
of  their  goods  :  the  records  of  the  town-houses  of  Nismes, 
Montauban,  Alais,  Montpellier,  and  other  cities  of  the  party, 
are  full  of  such  decrees  ;  nor  should  I  mention  them,  were  it  not 
for  the  complaints  with  which  our  fugitives  alarm  all  Europe. 
These  are  the  men  who  boast  their  meekness.  What  a  cruelty 
to  persecute  such  people  merely  for  rehgion,  who  warrant  all 

*  Crit.  t.  i.  Lett.  ii.  N,  3.  p.  45,  et  seq.     Ibid.  LetL  xviii.  p.  331. 
t  Ibid.  Lett.  xvii.  N.  8.  J  Burn.  part.  ii.  1.  i.  p.  9. 


32  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

they  do  from  Scripture,  and  chant  so  harmoniously  their  psalms 
in  rhyme  !  No  fear,  they  soon  found  means  to  shelter  them- 
selves from  martyrdom,  after  the  example  of  their  doctors,  who 
always  were  in  security  themselves  whilst  they  encouraged 
others  ;  both  Luther  and  Melancthon,  Bucer  and  Zuinglius, 
Calvin  and  G^colampadius,  with  all  the  rest  of  them,  speedily 
betook  themselves  to  secure  sanctuaries  ;  nor  am  I  acquainted, 
amoagst  the  heads  of  the  reformers,  with  any,  even  false  mar- 
tyrs, unless  perchance  such  a  one  as  Cranmer,  whom  we  have 
seen,  after  a  repeated  abjuration  of  his  faith,  unresolved  to  die 
in  the  profession  of  it,  till  he  was  convinced  his  renouncing  it 
would  be  unavailable  to  save  his  life. 

53. — Jlnsiver  to  those  who  might  say,  this  is  foreign  to  our  subject. 
But  to  what  purpose,  it  may  be  objected,  the  reflecting  on 
these  past  transactions,  which  a  peevish  minister  will  say  is  only 
done  to  exasperate  them  the  more,  and  aggravate  their  misfor- 
tunes 1  Such  fears  ought  not  to  hinder  me  from  relating  what 
appertains  so  manifestly  to  my  subject ;  and  all  that  equitable 
Protestants  can,  in  a  history,  require  from  me  is,  that,  not  rely- 
ing v/holly  on  the  credit  of  their  adversaries,  I  also  give  ear  to 
their  own  historians.  I  do  more  than  this,  and,  not  content 
with  hearing  them,  I  join  issue  with  them  on  their  evidence. 
Let  our  brethren  open  then  their  eyes  ;  let  them  cast  them  on 
the  rncient  Church,  which,  during  so  many  ages  of  so  cruel  a 
persecution,  never  flew  out,  not  for  a  moment,  nor  in  one  single 
person  ;  but  was  seen  as  submissive  under  Dioclesian,  nay, 
under  Julian  the  apostate,  when  she  was  spread  over  all  the 
earth,  as  under  Nero  and  Domitian,  when  but  in  her  infancy ; 
there  indeed  appeared  the  finger  of  God  truly  visible.  But  the 
case  is  quite  different,  when  men  rebel  as  soon  as  able ;  and 
when  their  wars  last  much  longer  than  their  patience.  Expe- 
rience sufficiently  shows  us  in  all  kinds  of  sects,  that  conceited 
opin  on  and  strong  prejudice  can  mimic  fortitude,  at  least  for  a 
while  ;  but  maxims  of  Christian  meekness  are  never  in  the  heart, 
when  men  so  readily  exchange  them,  not  only  for  opposite  prac- 
ticcc",  but  also  for  opposite  maxims,  with  deliberation  and  by  ex- 
pres;'  decisions,  as  it  is  plain  our  Protestants  have  done.  Here 
is,  therefore,  a  true  variation  in  their  doctrine,  and  an  effect  of 
that  perpetual  instability,  which  cannot  but  fix  on  their  Reforma- 
tion a  character  suitable  to  those  works,  which  having  but  what 
is  hvnnan  in  them,  of  course  must  "  come  to  nought,^'*  according 
to  Gamaliel's  maxim. 

54, — The  Assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  by  Poltrot,  field  by  the  Reformation 
as  an  act  of  Religion. — 1562. 

The  assassination  of  Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  ought  not  to 

*  Acts  V.  38. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  33 

pass  unmentioned  in  this  history,  inasmuch  as  the  author  of  this 
murder  mingled  his  religion  with  his  crime.  It  is  Beza  that 
represents  to  us  Poltrot  as  excited  by  some  secret  impulse,  at 
the  time  he  resolved  upon  this  infamous  exploit ;  and  in  order 
to  make  us  understand  that  this  secret  impulse  was  from  God, 
he  also  describes  the  same  Poltrot  just  ready  to  enter  on  the 
execution  of  this  black  design,*  "  Praying  to  God  most  ardently, 
that  he  would  vouchsafe  to  change  his  will,  if  what  he  intended 
was  displeasing  to  him  ;  otherwise,  that  he  would  give  him  con- 
stancy, and  strength  sufficient  to  slay  this  tyrant,  and  by  that 
means  free  Orleans  from  destruction,  and  the  whole  kingdom 
from  so  miserable  a  tyranny.  Thereupon,  and  in  the  evening 
of  the  same  day,  proceeds  Beza,  he  struck  the  blow ;  that  is, 
during  this  enthusiasm,  and  just  rising  up  from  that  ardent 
prayer. "j"  As  soon  as  ever  our  Reformed  knew  the  thing  was 
done,  "  they  solemnly  returned  thanks  to  God  with  great  rejoic- 
ings. "J  The  Duke  of  Guise  had  always  been  the  object  of 
their  hatred.  No  sooner  were  they  in  a  condition  to  effect  it, 
but  we  have  seen  them  conspire  his  ruin,  and  this  by  the  advice 
of  their  doctors.  After  the  riot  at  Vassi,  although  it  was  certain 
he  had  used  all  his  endeavors  to  appease  it,  the  party  rose  up 
against  him  with  hideous  clamors  ;§  and  Beza,  who  carried 
their  complaints  to  court,  acknowledges,  "  He  had  desired  and 
begged  of  God  innumerable  times,  either  to  change  the  heart 
of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  which,  nevertheless,  he  could  not  hope, 
or  that  he  would  rid  the  kingdom  of  him  ;  whereof  he  calls  to 
witness  all  those  who  have  heard  his  prayers  and  preaching." || 
It  was  therefore  in  his  preaching,  and  in  public,  that  he  offered 
up  innumerable  times  these  seditious  prayers  ;  after  the  example 
of  those  of  Luther,  whereby,  we  have  observed,  he  knew  so  well 
how  to  animate  mankind,  and  stir  up  individuals  to  fulfil  his 
prophecies.  By  the  like  prayers  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  rep- 
resented as  a  hardened  persecutor,  from  whom  it  was  necessary 
to  beseech  God  that  he  would  deliver  the  world  by  some  extra- 
ordinary stroke  of  his  Providence.  What  Beza  says  in  his  own 
excuse, TF  "  that  he  did  not  publicly  name  the  Duke  of  Gu'se," 
is  much  too  silly.  What  signifies  the  naming  a  man  when  you 
know  both  how  to  point  him  out  by  his  characters,  and  explain 
yourself  in  particular  to  those  who  might  sufficiently  havt  un- 
derstood you  ]  These  mysterious  innuendoes,  in  sermons  and 
divine  service,  are  more  likely  to  exasperate  men's  minds,  than 
more  explicit  declarations.  Beza  was  not  the  only  one  that 
inveighed  most  bitterly  against  the  Duke  ;  all  the  ministers 
railed  in  the  same  manner.     No  wonder  then,  that  amongst  so 

*  L.  vi.  pp.  267,  26S.  t  Ibid.  p.  290.         J  Ibid. 

§  Thuau.  lib.  xxxk.  pp.  77,  78.  |1  L.  vi.  299.  H  Ibid. 


34  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

many  "men  disposed  for  execution,"  with  which  the  party 
abounded,  some  should  be  found  that  thought  they  did  God 
service  in  dehvering  the   Reformation  from  such  an  enemy. 
The  still  blacker  enterprise  of  Amboise  had  met  with  the  ap- 
probation of  Beza  and  their  doctors.     This,  in  the  conjuncture 
of  the  siege  of  Orleans,  when  the  bulwark  of  the  party  together 
with  this  city  was  just  falhng  into  the  Duke's  hands,  was  of  a 
far  different  importance  ;  and  Poltrot  believed  he  did  more  for 
his  religion  than  La  Renaudie.     Accordingly,  he  talked  openly 
of  his  design  as  of  a  thing  that  would  be  well  approved  of.    Al- 
though he  was  known  in  the  party  for  a  man  sworn  to  kill  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  cost  what  it  would,  neither  the  generals,  nor  the 
soldiers,  nor  even  the  pastors  dissuaded  him  from  it.     Let  any 
one  that  pleases  believe  what  Beza  says,*  that  those  words  were 
taken  "  for  the  vagaries  of  a  giddy-headed  person,"  that  would 
never  have  vented  his  design  had  he  resolved  to  execute  it.   But 
the  more  sincere  D'Aubigne  is  agreed,  that  it  was  hoped  in  the 
party  he  would  strike  the  blow  :   which,  he  says,  "  he  had  learnt 
from  good  authority."!     It  is  also  very  certain,  that  Poltrot  did 
not  pass  for  one  that  was  hair-brained.  J     Soubize,  whose  ser- 
vant he  was,  and  the   Admiral,  considered  him  as  a  useful 
person,  and  employed  him  in  affairs  of  consequence  ;  and  the 
manner  of  his  explaining  himself  spoke  him  rather  a  man  reso- 
lute at  all  events,  than  one   giddy-headed  and  crazy.     "  He 
presented  himself  (they  are  Beza's  words)  to  Mr.  Soubize,  a 
leading  man  in  the  party,  to  acquaint  him  that  he  had  resolved 
with  himself  in  cold  blood  to  dehver  France  from  so  many  mis- 
eries, by  killing  the  Duke   of  Guise  ;  which  he  durst  boldly 
undertake,  cost  what  it  ivould.''^§     The  answer  which  Soubize 
returned  him  was  not  calculated  to  make  him  relent  in  his  un- 
dertaking ;  for  he  only  tells  him  "  To  do  his  accustomed  duty  ;" 
and  as  for  the  matter  proposed,  "  God  knew  well  how  to  take 
care  of  it  by  other  means."   So  faint  a  reply,  in  an  action  which 
ought  not  to  be  spoken  of  without  horror,  must  have  discovered 
to  Poltrot,  in  Soubize' s  mind,  either  the  apprehension  that  the 
thiat  would  not  be  executed  successfully,  or  the  design  of  ex- 
culp:iting  himself,  rather  than  an  express  condemnation  of  it. 
The  rest  of  the  chiefs  spoke  to  him  with  no  less  indifference  : 
they  were  satisfied  with  telling  him  "  he  ought  to  beware  of 
extraordinary  vocations."  ||      This,  instead  of  dissuasion,  was 
worldng  up  a  belief  in  him  that  his  enterprise  had  something  in 
it  of  what  was  heavenly  and  inspired ;   and,  as  D'Aubigne  ex- 
presses it  in  his  animated  style,  "  Their  remonstrances,  under 
the  appearance  of  dissuading,  really  urged  him  on."     Accord- 

*  L.  vi.  p.  268.  t  D'Aub.  p.  1. 1,  iii.  c.  xvii.  p.  176. 

t  Beza,  pp.  268,  295,  297.     §  Ibid.  pp.  266,  268.      ||  D'Aub.  t.  i.  p.  176. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  35 

ingly,  he  was  but  the  more  determined  on  his  black  undertaking: 
he  spoke  of  it  to  every  body ;  and,  continues  Beza,  "  had  his 
mind  so  bent  on  it,  as  to  make  it  the  common  topic  of  liis  dis- 
course.'' During  the  siege  of  Rouen,  at  which  the  Kii.g  of 
Navarre  was  killed,  this  death  being  mentioned,  Poltrot,  "  ff  tch- 
ing  a  deep  sigh  from  the  bottom  of  his  breast,  Ha !  says  he,  this 
is  not  enough,  a  much  greater  victim  must  still  be  sacrificed. "* 
When  asked  what  it  might  be  :  he  answered,  "  It  is  the  ire  at 
Guise  ;"  and  at  the  same  time,  lifting  up  his  right  arm,  "  This 
is  the  arm,"  cried  he,  "  that  will  do  the  deed,  and  put  an  end  to 
our  misfortunes."  This  he  repeated  often,  and  always  with  the 
like  energy.  All  these  discourses  bespeak  a  man  determined, 
scorning  to  conceal  himself,  because  persuaded  he  is  doing  a 
meritorious  action  :  but  what  more  discovers  the  disposition  of 
the  whole  party,  is  that  of  the  Admiral,  whom  they  held  up  to 
the  whole  world  as  a  pattern  of  virtue  and  the  glory  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. I  shall  not  speak  here  of  Poltrot's  evidence,  accusing 
him  and  Beza  of  having  induced  him  to  this  design.  Let  us  lay 
aside  the  testimony  of  a  witness,  who  has  perhaps  varied  too 
much  to  be  entirely  credited  on  his  own  word  :  but  the  cacts 
avowed  by  Bezaf  in  his  history  cannot  be  called  in  question, 
much  less  those  that  are  contained  in  the  declaration  which  the 
Admiral  and  he  jointly  on  the  assassin's  accusation,  sent  to  the 
Queen. ;|;  Thence,  therefore,  it  remains  evident,  that  Soubize 
despatched  Poltrot  with  a  packet  of  letters  to  the  Admiral  when 
still  near  Orleans  endeavoring  to  relieve  the  town  ;  that  it  was 
with  the  Admiral's  consent  that  Poltrot  went  to  the  Duke  of 
Guise's  camp,  and  pretended  to  surrender  himself  to  him,  as 
one  who  was  tired  of  bearing  arms  against  the  king  ;§  that  the 
Admiral,  who  otherwise  could  not  be  ignorant  of  a  design  :nade 
public  by  Poltrot,  learnt  from  his  own  mouth  that  he  persisted 
in  it  still,  since  he  owns  that  Poltrot,  in  departing  on  his  enter- 
prise, "  went  so  far  as  to  tell  him,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to 
kill  the  Duke  of  Guise  ;"  that  the  Admiral  spoke  not  a  word  to 
turn  him  from  it ;  nay,  on  the  contrary,  though  conscious  of  his 
design,  gave  him  at  one  time  twenty  crowns,  and  a  hundr^^d  at 
another,  to  mount  himself  well  :j|  in  those  days  a  considerable 
supply,  and  absolutely  necessary  both  to  facilitate  his  undertaking 
and  escape.^  Nothing  can  be  more  frivolous  than  what  the 
Admiral  alleges  in  his  own  defence.  He  says,  "  that  when 
Poltrot  mentioned  to  him  his  killing  the  Duke  of  Guise,  he,  the 
Admiral,  never  opened  his  mouth  to  incite  him  to  undertake  it." 
There  was  no  need  of  inciting  a  man  whose  resolution  was  so 
well  taken  ;   and  in  order  that  he  might  accomphsh  his  design, 

*  Thuan.  1.  xxxiii.  p.  207.   f  L.  vi.  pp.  231,  308.    |  Ibid.  pp.  294.  295,  et  seq. 
§  P.  209.  II  P.  308.  IT  Ibid.  pp.  297,  391. 


36  THE  HISTORY  OF  [bOOK 

the  Admiral  had  no  more  to  do  than,  as  he  did,  to  despatch  him 
to  the  place  where  he  might  execute  it.  The  Admiral,  not  con- 
tent to  send  him  thither,  gives  him  money  to  support  himself 
there,  and  for  the  supply  of  all  necessaries  for  such  a  design, 
not  forgetting  even  that  of  a  good  horse  and  furniture.*  What 
the  Admiral  alleged  farther,  that  he  sent  Poltrot  into  the  camp 
only  to  gain  intelligence,  is  manifestly  nothing  but  a  cloak  to 
that  design,  which  he  would  not  own.  As  for  the  money,  nothing 
is  more  weak  than  what  the  Admiral  replies,  viz.  "  that  he  gave 
it  to  Poltrot,  without  ever  specifying  to  him  the  killing  or  not  kill- 
ing the  Duke  of  Guise."!  But  the  reason  he  brings  in  his  jus- 
tification for  not  dissuading  him  from  so  wicked  an  attempt, 
discovers  the  bottom  of  his  heart.  He  confesses  then,  "  before 
these  last  troubles,  he  knew  the  men  who  had  determined  to 
kill  the  Duke  of  Guise  ;  that  far  from  inducing  them  to  this 
design,  or  approving  it,  he  had  diverted  them  from  it,  and  even 
given  notice  of  it  to  Madame  de  Guise  :  that,  since  the  affair 
of  Vassi,  he  had  prosecuted  the  Duke  as  a  public  enemy;  never- 
theless it  cannot  be  discovered  that  he  had  approved  any  attempt 
should  be  made  on  his  person,  till  he  had  notice  given  him  that 
the  Duke  had  drawn  in  certain  persons  to  kill  him  and  the  Prince 
of  Conde."  It  follows,  therefore,  that  after  this  notice  given 
(as  to  the  truth  whereof  we  ought  not  to  believe  an  enemy  on 
his  bare  word)  "  he  did  approve"  attempting  on  the  Duke's  life: 
but,  "  since  that  time,  he  acknowledges,  when  he  heard  one  say, 
if  he  could  he  would  kill  the  Duke  of  Guise  even  in  his  camp, 
he  did  not  dissuade  him  from  it :"  by  which  it  appears  at  once, 
that  this  bloody  design  was  common  in  the  Reformation,  and 
the  chiefs  of  it,  the  most  esteemed  for  their  virtue,  such  was 
undoubtedly  the  Admiral,  did  not  think  themselves  under  any 
obligation  of  opposing  it ;  on  the  contrary,  they  concurred  in  it 
in  every  way  the  most  effectually  they  were  able  ;  so  little  did 
an   assassination   disturb  their  consciences,  provided  religion 

were  its  motive. 

55. — Sequel. 

Should  it  be  asked,  what  could  induce  the  Admiral  to  confess 
facts  which  bore  so  hard  upon  him  ?  it  was  not  from  his  igno- 
rance of  the  difficulties  he  incurred  ;  but,  says  Beza,J  "  the 
Admiral,  being  downright  and  truly  sincere,  if  any  man  of  his 
quality  ever  was,  made  answer,  that  if  afterwards,  upon  con- 
fronting, he  should  happen  to  make  some  further  confession,  he 
might  give  occasion  to  think  that  even  then  he  did  not  discover 
the  whole  truth  ;"  that  is,  if  rightly  understood,  this  sincere  and 
downright  man  feared  the  force  of  truth  at  confronting,  and  pre- 
pared his  subterfuges,  as  is  usual  to  guilty  persons,  whose  con- 

*  L.  vi.  pp.  297,  391.  t  Ibid.  p.  297.  J  Beza,  p.  308. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC  37 

science,  and  fear  of  being  convicted,  makes  them  often  confess 
more  than  could  be  drawn  from  witnesses.  Nay,  it  seems,  if 
the  manner  of  the  Admiral's  explaining  himself  be  well-con- 
sidered, that  he  feared  men  should  think  him  innocent,  that  he 
shunned  only  the  formal  acknowledgment  and  a  juridical  con- 
viction, and,  what  is  more,  took  pleasure  in  displaying  his  re- 
venge. But  the  most  politic  thing  he  did  for  his  acquittal  was 
desiring  that  Poltrot  might  be  kept  to  be  confronted  with  him, 
relying  on  his  alleged  excuses  and  the  conjuncture  of  the  times, 
which  forbade  driving  to  extremes  the  chief  of  so  formidable  a 
party.*  Neither  was  the  court  ignorant  of  this,  and  accord- 
ingly the  process  was  concluded.  Poltrot,  who  had  retracted 
the  charge  brought  in  by  him  against  the  Admiral  and  Beza, 
persisted  in  acquitting  Beza,  even  to  death  ;"j"  but,  as  for  the 
Admiral,  he  -impeached  him  anew  by  three  declarations,  one 
after  another,  even  amidst  the  tortures  of  his  punishment,  of 
having  induced  him  to  perpetrate  this  murder  for  God's  service. 
As  for  Beza,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  had  any  share  in  this 
action  otherwise  than  by  his  seditious  preaching,  and  the  appro- 
bation he  had  given  of  the  much  more  criminal  conspiracy  of 
Amboise  ;  but  very  certain  it  is,  that  before  the  fact  was  com- 
mitted, he  did  nothing  to  prevent  it,  although  he  could  not  be  ig- 
norant of  the  design,  and,  when  it  was  over,  omitted  nothing  that 
might  give  it  all  the  appearance  of  an  inspired  action.  The 
reader  may  judge  of  the  rest ;  and  here  there  is  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  make  it  evident  what  spirit  those  were  animated  with, 
who  thus  boast  their  meekness. 

56. — Catholics  and  Protestants  agreed  on  the  question  of  punishing  Heretics. 

There  is  no  need  here  of  explaining  myself  on  that  question, 
whether  or  not  Christian  princes  have  a  right  to  use  the  sword 
against  their  subjects,  enemies  to  sound  doctrine  and  the  Church, 
the  Protestants  being  agreed  with  us  in  this  point.  Luther  and 
Calvin  have  written  books  expressly  to  make  good  the  right  and 
duty  of  the  magistrate  in  this  point.  J  Calvin  reduced  this  to 
practice  against  Servetus  and  Valentine  Gentili.§  Melancthon 
approved  of  this  procedure  by  a  letter  he  wrote  to  him  on  this 
subject.  Ij  The  discipline  of  our  reformed  likewise  permits  re- 
course to  the  secular  arm  in  certain  cases  ;  and  amongst  the 
articles  of  discipline  of  the  Geneva  Church,!!  it  appears  that  the 
ministers  ought  to  inform  the  magistrate  against  the  incorrigible, 
who  despise  spiritual  penalties,  and  especially  against  those, 
V,  ithout  distinction,  who  teach  new  doctrine.     And  even  at  this 

*  Beza,  p.  308.  f  Pp.  312,  31^,  327.  J  Luth.  de  Magist.  t.  iii. 

§  Calvin,  opusc.  p.  592.  Ibid.  600,  659.       ||  Melan.  Calvino  inter  Calv.  Ep.  p. 
169.       IT  Jur.  Syst.  ii.  chap.  22,  33.    Lett.  Past,  de  la  1  Ann6e,  1,  2,  3. 
VOL,  II.  4 


38  4  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

day,  the  author*  that  most  bitterly  of  all  the  Calvinist  writers 
upbraids  the  Roman  Church  on  this  subject,  with  the  cruelty  of 
her  doctrine,  subscribes  to  it  in  the  main,  inasmuch  as  he  per- 
mits the  exercise  of  the  power  of  the  sword  in  matters  of  religion 
and  conscience  ;  a  thing  which  in  truth  cannot  be  called  in 
question  without  enervating,  and,  as  it  were,  maiming  the  power 
of  the  legislature  ;  so  that  there  cannot  be  a  more  dangerous 
illusion,  than  to  set  down  sufferance  as  a  characteristic  of  the 
true  Church ;  nor  do  I  know  amongst  Christians  any  but  So- 
cinians  and  Anabaptists  that  oppose  this  doctrine.  In  a  word, 
the  right  is  certain,  but  moderation  is  not  less  necessary. 

57. — Calvin'' s  Death. 

Calvin  died  at  the  beginning  of  these  troubles.  It  is  a  weakness 
to  look  for  something  extraordinary  in  the  death  of  such  men ; 
God  does  not  always  exhibit  such  examples.  Since  he  permits 
heresies  for  the  trial  of  his  elect,  we  ought  not  to  wonder  that, 
to  complete  this  trial,  he  suffers  the  spirit  of  seduction,  with  all 
the  fine  appearances  wherewith  it  decks  itself  out,  to  predominate 
in  them  even  to  the  end ;  and  without  further  informing  myself 
about  Calvin's  life  and  death,  it  is  enough  that  he  kindled  a 
flame  in  his  country  which  the  effusion  of  so  much  blood  could 
not  extinguish,  and  is  gone  to  appear  before  God's  judgment- 
seat  without  the  least  remorse  for  so  great  a  crime. 

58. — J^ew  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Helvetic  Churches. 

His  death  made  no  alteration  in  the  affairs  of  the  party ;  but 
the  instability  natural  to  new  sects  was  always  furnishing  the 
world  with  some  new  spectacle,  and  Confessions  of  Faith  went 
on  at  their  usual  rate.  In  Switzerland,  the  defenders  of  the 
figurative  sense,  far  from  being  satisfied  with  so  many  confes- 
sions of  faith  made  in  France  and  elsewhere,  in  exposition  of 
their  doctrine,  were  not  even  satisfied  with  those  that  were  made 
amongst  themselves.  We  have  seen  that  of  Zuinglius  in  1530, 
we  have  seen  another  published  at  Basil  in  1532,  and  another 
of  the  same  town  in  1536  ;  another  in  1554,  agreed  to  with  the 
joint  consent  of  the  Swiss  and  those  of  Geneva  :  all  these  con- 
fessions of  faith,  although  ratified  by  divers  acts,  were  not  deemed 
sufficient ;  and  it  was  necessary  to  proceed  to  a  fifth  in  1566.1 
59. — The  frivolous  reasons  of  the  Ministers  for  this  new  Confession  of  Faith. 

The  ministers  who  published  it  were  very  sensible  that  these 
alterations,  in  a  thing  of  that  importance,  and  which  ought  to  be 
so  firm  and  simple  as  a  Confession  of  Faith,  discredited  their 
religion.  For  which  reason,  they  set  forth  a  preface,  wherein 
they  strove  to  account  for  this  last  change  ;  and  here  is  the  whole 
of  their  defence  :  viz.,  "  Although  many  nations  have  already 

*  Hist,  du  Papis.  3.  Recrim.  ch.  2,  etseq.      f  Synt.  Gen.  Ist  part,  p.  1. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  39 

published  different  confessions  of  faith,  and  they  themselves 
have  also  done  the  same  thing  by  public  writings,  nevertheless, 
they  also  propose  this"  (reader,  observe)  "because  those  writings 
may  perchance  have  been  forgotten,  or  be  spread  in  divers 
places,  and  explain  the  thing  so  much  at  large  that  all  the  world 
have  not  time  to  read  them."*  Yet,  it  is  visible  that  these  two 
first  confessions  of  faith,  which  the  Swiss  had  published,  scarce 
take  up  five  leaves  ;  and  another,  which  might  be  joined  to 
them,  is  much  about  the  same  length ;  whereas,  this  last  men- 
tioned, which  ought  to  be  the  shortest,  has  more  than  sixty. 
And,  allowing  their  other  confessions  of  faith  had  been  forgotten, 
nothing  was  more  easy  than  to  publish  them  anew,  were  they 
contented  with  them  :  so  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  pub- 
lishing a  fourth,  but  because  they  found  themselves  obliged  to 
it  for  a  reason  they  durst  not  utter  ;  which  was  the  variety  of 
new  sentiments  continually  rising  in  their  minds  ;  and  as  they 
must  not  own  their  daily  loading  their  confessions  with  such  novel 
fancies,  they  cloak  their  changes  with  such  frivolous  pretexts. 
60. — Imputed  Justice  begins  but  then  to  be  knoion  amongst  the  Siviss. 

We  have  seen  that  Zuinglius  was  an  apostle  and  reformer 
without  so  much  as  knoAving  what  was  that  grace  by  which  we 
are  Christians  ;  and  he  who  saved  even  philosophers  by  virtue 
of  their  morality,  was  an  entire  stranger  to  imputed  justice.  Ac- 
cordingly, nothing  appeared  of  it  in  the  Confessions  of  Faith  of 
1532  and  1536.|  Grace  was  acknowledged  there  in  such  a 
manner  as  Catholics  might  have  approved,  had  it  been  less  in- 
definite ;  and  nothing  was  so  much  as  mentioned  in  them  against 
the  merit  of  works.  In  the  convention  made  with  Calvin  in 
1554,  it  appears  that  Calvinism  began  to  gain  ground  ;  and, 
accordingly,  imputed  justice  then  shows  itself;  they  had  been 
reformed  nearly  forty  years  without  knowing  this  fundamental 
article  of  the  reformation.  The  thing  was  not  thoroughly  ex- 
plained till  1566,  and  it  was  by  such  a  gradation  that,  from 
Zuinglius's  excesses,  they  passed  insensibly  to  those  of  Calvin. 
61. — The  merit  of  Good  Works,  how  rejected. 

In  the  chapter  concerning  good  works,  they  speak  of  them  in 
the  same  sense  that  other  Protestants  do,  as  the  necessary  fruits 
of  faith,  and  reject  their  merit,  whereof,  we  have  seen,  not  a 
word  was  said  in  the  precedent  confessions.  To  condemn  them, 
they  here  make  use  of  a  saying,  often  inculcated  by  St.  Austin, 
but  they  quote  it  incorrectly ;  for,  whereas  St.  Austin  says,  and 
incessantly  repeats  it,  "  That  God  crowns  his  own  gifts,  when 
he  crowns  our  merits  ;"  they  make  him  say,  "  He  crowns  in  us, 

*  Synt.  Gen.  init.  Praefat.  f  Conf.  1532.  Art.  \x.  Synt.  Gen.  i.  p.  68. 1536. 
Art  2,  3.  Ibid.  p.  72.  Consens.  Art.  iii.  opusc.  Cal.  751.  Conf.  fid.  c.  xv. 
Synt.  Gen.  part  i.  p.  26. 


40  *  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

not  our  merits,  but  his  own  gifts."*  The  difference  of  these 
two  expressions  is  easily  perceived,  one  of  which  joins  the  merits 
with  the  gifts,  and  the  other  separates  them.  It  seems,  never- 
theless, as  if  they  had  a  mind  to  insinuate,  at  the  close,  that  they 
condemned  merit  only  as  opposed  to  grace  ;  their  conclusion 
running  thus  :  "  We,  therefore,  condemn  those  who  so  defend 
merit,  as  to  deny  grace."  In  reality,  then,  no  error  but  that  of 
the  Pelagians  is  here  condemned ;  for  the  merit,  which  we  ad- 
mit, is  so  little  contrary  to  grace,  that  it  is  the  very  gift  and 
fruit  thereof. 

62. — Faith  appropriated  to  the  Elect. — Certainty  of  Salvation. — Inamissibility 

of  Justice. 

In  the  tenth  chapter,  true  faith  is  attributed  to  the  predesti- 
nated alone,  by  these  words  :  "  Every  man  must  hold  it  for 
unquestionable,  that,  if  he  believes,  and  abides,  in  Jesus  Christ, 
he  is  predestinated."  And  a  little  farther  on,  "  If  we  commu- 
nicate with  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  belong  to  us,  and  we  to  him, 
by  true  faith,  this  is  to  us  a  sufficiently  clear  and  sure  testimony 
that  we  are  written  in  the  book  of  hfe."!  Hence  it  is  plain  that 
true  faith,  namely,  justifying  faith,  appertains  only  to  the  elect ; 
that  this  faith  and  this  justice  can  never  be  lost  finally  ;  and  that 
temporary  faith  is  not  the  true  justifying  faith.  These  same 
words  seem  to  conclude  for  the  absolute  certainty  of  predesti- 
nation ;  for,  although  they  make  it  depend  on  faith,  it  is  a  doc- 
trine received  amongst  the  \.'hole  Protestant  party,  that  a  be- 
liever, in  saying,  "  I  believe,"  feels  in  himself  the  true  faith. 
But  herein  they  are  insensible  of  the  seduction  of  our  self-love, 
of  the  mixture  of  our  passions,  so  strangf'ly  complicated,  that  our 
own  dispositions,  and  the  true  motives  which  actuate  us,  are 
often  what  we,  of  all  things,  know  with  the  least  degree  of  cer- 
tainty ;  so  that,  in  saying  with  that  disconsolate  father  in  the 
gospel,  "  I  believe,";];  how  greatly  soever  we  may  think  our- 
selves moved,  though  we  should  cry  out  lamentably  as  he  did, 
and  with  a  flood  of  tears ;  we  ought,  nevertheless,  to  subjoin, 
with  him,  "  Lord,  help  thou  my  unbelief;"  and  shov/  by  that 
means,  that  saying  "  I  believe,"  is  rather  an  effort  in  us  to  pro- 
duce so  great  an  act,  than  an  absolute  certainty  of  our  having 
produced  it, 

63. — Conversion  ill-explained. 

How  prolix  soever  be  the  discourse,  which  the  Zuinglians 
make  on  free-will,  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  their  Confession,^  this 
little  is  all  that  is  material  in  it.  Three  states  of  man  are  well 
distinguished  :  That  of  his  first  institution,  wherein  he  had  the 
power  of  inclining  to  good,  and  declining  from  evil ;  that  of  his 
fall,  when,  unable  to  do  good,  he  yet  is  free  to  evil,  because  he 

*  Synt.  Gen.  part.  i.  p.  26.  f  Cap.  x.  p.  15.   J  Mark  ix.  24.    §  Cap.  ix.  p.  12. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  41 

embraces  it  voluntarily,  and  by  consequence  with  liberty,  al- 
though God  frequently  prevents  the  effect  of  his  choice,  and 
hinders  him  from  accomplishing  his  evil  purposes  ;  aind  that  of 
his  regeneration,  when,  reinstated  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
power  of  voluntarily  doing  good,  he  is  free,  yet  not  fully,  on 
account  of  the  infirmity  of  concupiscence  remaining  in  him, 
acting,  nevertheless,  not  passively  ;  these  are  their  terms — odd 
enough,  I  own — for  what  is  it  to  act  passively  ?  And  how  is 
it  possible  such  an  idea  should  enter  any  man's  head  ?  How- 
ever, this  manner  of  speech  pleased  our  Zuinglians.  Acting 
(they  continue  to  speak  of  man  regenerated,)  not  passively,  but 
actively  in  the  choice  of  good,  and  in  the  operation  by  which  ho 
accomplishes  it.  How  much  was  this  short  of  a  clear  and  full 
explanation?  They  ought  to  have  joined  to  these  three  states, 
that  of  man  hetween  corruption  and  regeneration,  when,  touched 
with  grace,  he  begins  to  bring  forth  the  spirit  of  salvation  amidst 
the  pangs  of  repentance.  This  state  is  not  that  of  corruption, 
in  which  he  wills  nought  but  evil,  since  he  begins,  in  this  state, 
to  will  good  ;  and  if  the  Zuinglians  would  not  consider  it  as  a 
state,  it  being  rather  a  passage  from  one  state  to  another,  they 
ought  to  explain,  at  least  in  some  other  place,  that,  in  this  pas- 
sage, and  previously  to  regeneration,  the  effort  man  makes, 
through  grace,  to  convert  himself,  is  not  an  evil.  Our  Reformed 
are  strangers  to  these  necessary  precisions  ;  they  ought  also  to 
have  explained  whether,  in  this  passage,  when  drawn  towards 
good  by  grace,  we  can  resist  it ;  and  again,  whether,  in  the  state 
of  corruption,  we  do  evil  so  of  ourselves  as  not  to  be  able  even 
to  abstain  from  one  evil  rather  than  another  ;  and  lastly,  whether 
in  the  state  of  regeneration,  working  good,  through  grace,  we 
be  so  forcibly  attracted  to  it,  as  not  to  have  it  then  in  our  power 
to  decline  to  evil.  All  these  things  were  necessary  to  give  a 
right  understanding  of  the  operation  and  even  notion  of  free- 
will, which  these  doctors  leave  confused  by  terms  too  indefinite 
and  equivocal. 

64. — Monstrous  Doctrine  on  Free-WUl. 

But  what  ends  the  chapter  displays  still  better  the  perplexity 
of  their  thoughts.  "  We  doubt  not,"  say  they,  "  that  men  re- 
generate, or  not  regenerate,  have  equally  their  free-will  in  com- 
mon actions  ;  because  man,  being  not  inferior  to  beasts,  hath 
that  in  common  with  them,  to  will  certain  things,  reject  others  ; 
thus,  he  may  speak  or  hold  his  tongue,  go  out  of  doors,  or  re- 
main within."  Strange  doctrine  !  To  make  us  free  hke  beasts  ! 
They  have  not  a  more  elevated  idea  of  man's  liberty,  having  said 
a  little  before,  "  that,  by  his  fall,  he  is  not  altogether  changed 
into  a  log  or  stone  ;"*  which  is  as  much  as  to  say,  he  wants  but 

*  Cap.  ix.  pp.  12,  13. 

VOL.  n.  4* 


42  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

little  of  it.  However  that  may  be,  the  Swiss  Zuiiiglians  aim  no 
higher  ;  nay,  the  Protestants  of  Germany  grovel  still  lower, 
when  they  say,  that  in  man's  conversion,  to  wit,  in  the  most 
noble  action  he  is  capable  of — in  the  action  by  which  he  unites 
himself  with  his  God, — he  acts  no  more  than  a  stone  or  log, 
though  he  acts  differently  on  other  occasions.*  How  dost  thou 
debase  thyself.  Oh  man,  thus  meanly  accounting  for  thy  free-will! 
But,  in  fine,  since  man  is  not  a  log,  and,  in  ordinary  actions,  his 
free-will  is  made  to  consist  in  being  able  to  do  certain  things,  or 
not  to  do  them,  it  ought  to  be  considered,  that  not  finding  in 
ourselves  a  different  manner  of  acting,  in  natural  actions,  from 
what  we  do  in  others,  this  same  liberty  accompanies  us  through- 
out ;  and  that  God  knows  how  to  preserve  it,  even  when  he 
elevates  us  by  his  grace  to  actions  supernatural — it  being  un- 
worthy of  His  Holy  Spirit  to  make  us  act  any  more  in  these  than 
in  others,  like  to  beasts,  or  rather,  like  stocks  and  stones, 

65. — Our  Calvinists  are  more  sparing  in  their  explanations,  and  why. 
It  may  perhaps  seem  strange,  that  we  spoke  nothing  of  any 
of  these  matters  in  treating  of  the  confession  of  the  Calvinists. 
But  the  reason  is,  they  themselves  pass  them  all  in  silence,  nor 
think  it  worth  their  while  to  speak  of  the  manner  in  which  man 
acts  ;  as  if  it  were  a  thing  indifferent  to  man  himself,  or  did  not 
appertain  to  faith  to  know,  in  point  of  liberty,  together  with  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  lineaments  God  has  traced  in  man,  to  make 
him  in  his  own  image,  that  very  thing  which  renders  us  worthy 
of  blame  or  praise  before  God  and  man. 

66. — The  Supper  icithout  Substance,  and  the  Presence  only  in  virtue. 
The  article  of  the  Supper  still  remains,  in  which  the  Swiss 
will  show  themselves  more  sincere  than  ever.  Those  indeter- 
minate phrases,  which  we  have  seen  them  employ  once  only, 
in  1636,  by  Bucer's  advice,  and  in  condescension  to  the  Lu- 
therans, are  no  longer  satisfactory  to  them.  Even  Calvin,  their 
very  good  friend,  cannot  bring  them  over  to  the  proper  substance, 
nor  the  incomprehensible  miracles,  whereby  the  Holy  Ghost, 
notwithstanding  the  distance  of  place,  makes  us  partakers  of  it. 
They  say,  therefore,  "  that  indeed  we  receive,  not  an  imaginary 
nourishment,  but  the  proper  body,  the  true  body  of  our  Lord 
given  for  us,  but  interiorly,  spiritually,  by  faith,  the  body  and 
blood  of  our  Lord,  but  spiritually  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  gives 
and  applies  to  us  the  things  which  the  body  and  blood  of  our 
Lord  have  merited  for  us,  namely,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  the 
deliverance  of  our  souls,  and  life  eternal. "|  This  is,  then,  what 
is  called  the  thing  received  in  this  sacrament.  This  thing  re- 
ceived indeed,  is  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  spiritual  life  ;  and 

*  Conctird.  p.  662,  §  5.  S.  lib.  viii»  n.  48.         f  Cap.  xxi.  p.  48. 


1 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  43 

if  the  body  and  blood  are  also  received,  it  is  by  their  benefit  and 
effect ;  or,  as  is  afterwards  subjoined,  by  their  figure,  by  their 
commemoration,  and  not  by  their  substance.  For  which  reason, 
after  having  said,  "  That  the  body  of  our  Lord  is  no  where  but 
in  heaven,  where  he  ought  to  be  adored,  and  not  under  the  spe- 
cies of  bread,"*  in  order  to  explain  the  manner  in  which  he  is 
present,  "  He  is  not,"  say  they,  "  absent  from  the  Supper. 
Though  the  sun  be  in  heaven  absent  from  us,  he  is  present  to 
us  efficaciously,  that  is,  present  by  his  virtue.  How  much  more 
is  Jesus  Christ  present  to  us  by  his  vivifying  operation?"  Who 
does  not  perceive  that  what  is  present  to  us  only  by  its  virtue, 
has  no  need  of  communicathig  its  proper  substance  1  These 
two  ideas  are  incompatible,  nor  has  any  man  ever  said  seriously, 
that  he  receives  the  proper  substance  of  the  sun  and  stars,  un- 
der pretext  that  he  receives  their  influences.  Thus  Zuinglians 
and  Calvinists,  who,  of  all  that  have  separated  from  Rome,  boast 
most  of  being  united  among  themselves,  nevertheless  reform 
each  other  in  their  several  confessions  of  faith,  and  never  could 
agree  in  one  common  and  simple  explanation  of  their  doctrine. 
67. — J^othing  particular  in  the  Supper. 
True  it  is,  that  of  the  Zuinglians  leaves  nothing  peculiar  to 
the  Supper.  The  body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  no  more  there  than  in 
any  other  actions  of  a  Christian  ;  and  it  was  in  vain  that  Jesus 
Christ  said  in  the  Supper  only,  with  so  much  energy,  "  This  is 
my  body;"  since  with  these  powerful  words  he  was  able  to  work 
nothing  in  it  that  is  singular.  This  is  the  inevitable  weak  side 
of  the  figurative  sense,  which  the  Zuinglians  were  well  aware  of, 
and  owned  sincerely :  "  This  spiritual  nourishment  is  taken," 
say  they,  "  out  of  the  Supper  ;  and  how  often  soever  a  person 
beheves,  this  believer  hath  already  received  and  enjoyeth  this 
food  of  everlasting  life  ;  but  for  the  same  reason,  when  he 
receives  the  sacrament,  that  which  he  receiveth  is  not  nothing  ; 
non  nihil  accipit.^^  What  is  our  Lord's  Supper  reduced  to?  all 
they  can  say  for  it  is,  that  what  you  receive  in  it  "  is  next  to 
quite  nothing.  For,"  proceed  our  Zuinglians,  "  we  continue 
there  to  partake  of  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord."  So  the 
Supper  hath  nothing  singular  in  it.  "Faith  is  stirred  up,  in- 
creases, is  nourished  with  some  spiritual  food;  for  as  long  as 
we  live  it  receives  a  continual  increase."  It  receives,  therefore, 
as  much  of  all  this  out  of  the  Supper  as  in  the  Supper,  nor  is 
Jesus  Christ  a  whit  more  there  than  any  where  else.  In  this 
manner,  after  saying  that  the  particular  thing  received  in  the 
Supper  is  not  a  mere  nothing,  and  in  fact  reducing  it  to  so  small 
a  matter,  they  are  not  yet  able  to  tell  us  w^hat  is  that  little  they 
have  left  in  it.     Here  is  a  great  vacuum  I  must  own ;  it  was  in 

*  Cap.  xxi.  p.  50. 


44  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

order  to  supply  this  emptiness  that  Calvin  and  the  Calvinists 
invented  their  big  sweUing  words.  They  thought  to  fill  up  this 
frightful  chasm  by  saying  in  their  Catechism,  that  out  of  the 
Supper,  Jesus  Christ  is  received  in  part  only ;  whereas,  in  the 
Supper,  he  is  received  fully.  But  to  what  purpose  promising 
such  great  matters  when  you  mean  nothing  by  them  ?  I  like 
far  better  the  sincerity  of  Zuinglius  and  the  Swiss,  who  own  the 
scantiness  of  their  Supper,  than  the  false  plenty  of  our  Calvin- 
ists, sumptuous  in  nothing  but  in  words. 
68. — The  Siviss  the  most  sincere  of  all  the  defenders  of  the  Figurative  Se7ise. 
Thus  much  am  I  then  obliged  to  say  in  behalf  of  the  Zuin- 
ghans,  that  their  Confession  of  Faith  is  of  all  the  most  natural 
and  simple  ;  and  this  not  only  with  reference  to  the  Eucharistic 
point,  but  in  regard  to  all  the  others  ;  in  a  word,  of  all  the 
Protestant  confessions  of  faith,  that  of  1566,  with  all  its  defects, 
speaks  the  most  clearly  what  it  means  to  speak. 

G9. — Remarkable  Confession  of  the  Polonian  Zuinglians,  in  which  the  Lutherans 
are  roughly  handled. — 1570. 

Among  the  Polish  separatists  from  the  Church  of  Rome, 
there  were  some  that  maintained  the  figurative  sense,  and  these 
had  subscribed,  in  1567,  the  confession  of  faith,  which  the  Swiss 
had  drawn  up  the  year  before.  They  rested  content  with  it  for 
three  whole  years  ;  but  in  1570,  they  thought  it  reasonable  to 
frame  another  in  a  synod  held  at  Czenger,  which  is  to  be  met 
with  in  the  collection  of  Geneva,  in  which  they  particularly 
signalize  themselves  on  the  Supper-article.* 

They  condemn  the  reality,  as  well  in  respect  to  the  delirium 
of  Catholics,  who  say  the  bread  is  changed  into  the  body,  as  in 
respect  to  the  folly  of  the  Lutherans,  who  place  the  body  with 
the  bread  :  they  declare  particularly  against  the  latter,  that  the 
reality,  which  they  admit,  cannot  subsist  without  a  change  of  sub- 
stance, such  as  happened  in  the  waters  of  Egypt,  in  the  wand 
of  Moses,  and  in  the  water  at  the  nuptial  feast  of  Cana  ;  thus 
they  clearly  own  that  transubstantiation  is  necessary,  even  by 
the  principles  of  the  Lutherans.  They  hold  them  in  such  ab- 
horrence, as  to  vouchsafe  them  no  other  appellation  than  that  of 
"eaters  of  human  flesh,"  ascribing  everywhere  to  them  a  "car- 
nal and  bloody"  manner  of  communicating,  as  if  they  ate  raw 
flesh. f  xifter  condemning  the  Papists  and  the  Lutherans,  they 
speak  of  others  under  error,  whom  they  call  Sacramentarians. 
"  We  reject,"  say  they,  "  the  phrensy  of  those  who  believe  that 
the  Supper  is  an  empty  sign  of  our  absent  Lord."  By  these 
words  they  aim  at  the  Socinians,  as  introducers  of  an  empty 
supper,  though  unable  to  show  that  their  own  is  better  furnished, 

*  Synod.  Czen.  Synt.  Conf.  part  i.  p.  148.    Cap.  de  CcEn.  Dom.  p.  153. 
t  Cap.  de  Sacramentariis,  p.  155. 


X.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  45 

nothing  at  all  being  to  be  found  in  either  of  them  with  respect  to 
the  body  and  the  blood,  but  signs,  commemoration,  and  virtue.* 
To  place  some  difference  betwixt  the  Zuinglian  and  Socinian 
Supper,  they  say  in  the  first  place,  that  the  Supper  is  not  the  sole 
memorial  of  Jesus  Christ  absent,  and  make  an  express  chapter 
concerning  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in  this  mystery.  But 
endeavoring  to  expound  it,  they  confound  themselves  with  terms 
that  are  not  of  any  language,  words  so  uncouth  and  barbarous, 
as  not  to  be  translated.  Jesus  Christ,  say  they,  is  present  in 
the  supper  both  as  God  and  man:  as  God,  enter,  prizsenter; 
render  these  words  who  can  :  by  his  Jehoval  divinity,  that  is,  in 
common  speech,  by  his  divinity  properly  so  called,  and  expressed 
by  the  incommunicable  name,  "As  the  vine  in  its  branches,  and 
the  head  in  its  members."  All  this  is  true,  but  nothing  to  the 
Supper,  where  the  question  relates  to  the  body  and  blood.  They 
proceed,  therefore,  to  say,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  present  as  man 
in  four  ways.  "  In  the  first  place,"  say  they,  "by  his  union  with 
the  word,  inasmuch  as  he  is  united  to  the  word  who  is  every 
where.  Secondly,  he  is  present  in  his  promise  by  the  word  and 
by  faith,  communicating  himself  to  his  elect  as  the  vine  com- 
municates itself  to  its  branches,  and  the  head  to  its  members, 
though  distant  from  it.  Thirdly,  he  is  present  by  his  sacramental 
institution,  and  the  infusion  of  his  holy  spirit.  Fourthly,  by  his 
office  of  dispenser,  or  by  his  intercession  for  his  elect."  They 
add,  "  he  is  not  present  carnally,  nor  locally,  it  being  requisite 
he  should  be  no  where  corporally  till  the  day  of  universal  judg- 
ment, except  in  heaven.  "| 

70. — Ubiquity  taught  by  the  Polish  Zuinglians. 

The  three  last  of  these  four  ways  of  presence  are  well  enough 
known  amonfjst  the  defenders  of  the  figurative  sense.  But  will 
they  be  able  to  make  us  comprehend  the  first,  agreeably  to  their 
sentiments  ?  have  they  ever  taught,  as  the  Poles  of  their  com- 
munion do,  that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  present  as  man,  in  the  Supper, 
by  his  union  with  the  word,  because  the  word  is  every  where 
present  1"  This  is  the  reasoning  of  Ubiquitarians,  who  attribute 
to  Jesus  Christ  an  omnipresence  as  to  place,  even  according  to 
his  human  nature  ;  but  this  extravagance  of  the  Ubiquitarians  is 
no  where  maintained  but  amongst  the  Lutherans.  The  Zuin- 
glians and  Calvinists  reject  it  equally  with  the  Catholics.  Yet 
this  notion  is  borrowed  by  the  Polish  Zuinglians,  who,  not  fully 
satisfied  with  the  Zuinglian  confession  which  they  had  sub- 
scribed, append  to  it  this  new  dogma. 

71. — Their  agi-eement  with  the  Lutherans  and  Vaudois. 
They  did  more,  and  that  very  year  united  themselves  with  the 

*Cap.deSacramentariis,p.l53,154.  Cap. dePraBS.inCoBna.p.l55.  tP«155. 


46  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

Lutherans,  whom  they  had  but  just  condemned  as  gross  and 
carnal  men,  as  men  who  taught  a  cruel  and  bloody  communion. 
They  sued  for  their  communion,  and  those  eaters  of  human  flesh 
became  their  brethren.  The  Yaudois  entered  into  this  agree- 
ment, and  all,  assembled  together  at  Sendomir,  subscribed  what 
had  been  defined  concerning  the  Supper-article  in  the  confession 
of  faith  called  Saxonic. 

But  for  the  better  understanding  of  this  triple  union  betwixt 
the  Zuinglians,  Lutherans,  and  Vaudois,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
know  who  these  Vaudois  were,  who  then  appeared  in  Poland. 
It  may  not  be  amiss  to  know  moreover  what  were  the  Vaudois 
in  general,  they  being  at  last  turned  Calvinists ;  and  many 
Protestants  doing  them  so  much  honor  as  to  assert  even  that 
the  Church,  persecuted  by  the  Pope,  preserved  her  succession 
in  this  society — so  gross  and  manifest  a  delusion,  that  I  must 
strive  once  for  all  to  cure  them  of  it. 


BOOK  XI. 

A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ALBIGENSES,  THE  VAUDOIS, 
THE  WICKLIFFITES,  AND  HUSSITES. 

A  brief  Summary. — A  short  history  of  the  Albigenses  and  Vaudois. — That 
they  are  two  different  Sects. — The  Albigenses  are  complete  INlanicheans. 
— Their  oricrin  explained. — The  PauJicians  are  a  branch  of  the  Manicheans 
in  Armenia,  whence  they  pass  into  Bulgaria,  thence  into  Italy  and  Ger- 
many, where  they  are  called  Cathari ;  and  into  France,  where  they  took 
the  name  of  Albigenses. — Their  prodigious  errors,  and  their  hypocrisy,  are 
discovered  by  all  contemporary  authors. — The  illusions  of  Protestants  en- 
deavoring to  excuse  them. — The  testimony  of  St.  Bernard,  who  is  wrong- 
fully accused  of  credulity. — The  origin  of  the  Vaudois. — The  ministers  in 
vain  make  them  the  disciples  of  Berengarius. — They  beUeved  Transubstan- 
tiation. — The  seven  Sacraments  acknowledged  by  them. — Confession  and 
sacramental  Absolution. — Their  error,  a  kind  of  Donatism. — They  make 
the  Sacraments  depend  on  the  holiness  of  their  Ministers,  and  allow  the 
administration  of  them  to  pious  laymen. — Origin  of  the  Sect  called  tlie 
Brethren  of  Bohemia. — That  they  are  not  Vaudois,  which  origin  they  con- 
temn; nor  the  disciples  of  John  Huss,  though  they  boast  of  it. — Their 
deputies  sent  over  all  the  world  to  seek  for  Christians  of  their  belief,  with- 
out being  able  to  find  any. — Wickliff's  impious  doctrine. — John  Huss,  M'ho 
glories  in  being  his  disciple,  abandons  him  in  regard  of  the  Eucharist. — 
The  disciples  of  John  Huss  divided  into  Taborites  and  Calixtins. — The 
confusion  of  all  these  Sects. — The  Protestants  can  draw  from  thence  no 
advantage  for  the  estabUshment  of  their  Mission,  and  succession  of  their 
Doctrine. — The  agreement  of  the  Lutherans,  of  the  Bohemians,  and  the 
Zuinglians  in  Poland. — The  divisions  and  reconciUations  of  sectaries  make 
equally  against  them. 

1. — What  is  the  succession  of  Protestants. 
It  is  incredible  what  pains  our  reformed  have  been  at,  in  order 
to  find  themselves  predecessors  in  all  foregoing  ages.     Whilst 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  47 

in  the  fourth  age,  of  all  the  most  illustrious,  none  could  be  found 
but  Vigilantius  alone,  that  opposed  the  honor  paid  to  saints  and 
the  veneration  of  their  relics,  he  is  looked  on  by  Protestants  as 
the  person  who  preserved  the  Depositum,  namely,  the  succes- 
sion of  apostolic  doctrine,  and  is  preferred  to  St.  Jerome,  who 
has  the  whole  Church  on  his  side.  For  the  same  reason,  too, 
Aerius  ought  to  be  considered  as  the  only  one  whom  God  en- 
lightened in  the  same  century,  for  he  alone  rejected  the  sacri- 
fice which  every  where  else,  in  the  East  as  well  as  the  West, 
was  offered  for  the  relief  of  the  dead.  But,  unluckily,  he  was 
an  Arian ;  and  they  were  ashamed  to  count  amongst  the  wit- 
nesses of  the  truth,  a  man  that  denied  the  Divinity  of  the  Son 
of  God.  But  I  am  amazed  they  stuck  at  that.  Claude  of  Turin 
was  an  Arian,  and  the  disciple  of  Felix  of  Urgel,  that  is,  a  Nes- 
torian  besides.*  But  because  he  broke  Images,  he  finds  place 
amongst  the  forefathers  of  the  Protestants.  It  matters  not  how 
far  soever  the  rest  of  the  Iconoclasts,  as  well  as  he,  have  out- 
stretched this  point,  even  to  say,  that  God  forbade  the  arts  of 
painting  and  sculpture  ;  it  is  sufficient  that  they  taxed  the  rest 
of  Christians  with  idolatry,  to  be  enrolled  amongst  the  firstrate 
witnesses  of  the  truth.  Berengarius  impugned  notliing  but  the 
Ileal  Presence,  leaving  all  the  rest  as  he  found  it ;  but  the  re- 
jecting of  one  only  tenet  was  sufficient  to  make  him  a  Calvinist, 
and  a  doctor  of  the  true  Church.  Wickliff  will  be  of  that  num- 
ber, notwithstanding  all  the  impieties  we  shall  see  he  taught ; 
though  even  by  asserting  that  kings,  lords,  magistrates,  priests, 
pastors,  are  no  longer  such  from  their  falling  into  mortal  sin,  he 
has  equally  subverted  all  order  in  the  Church  and  state,  and 
filled  both  with  tumult  and  sedition.  John  Huss  followed  this 
doctrine,  and,  what  is  more,  said  Mass  to  the  end  of  his  life, 
and  adored  the  Eucharist ;  yet  for  standing  up  against  the 
Church  of  Rome  in  other  points,  he  must  be  placed  by  our  re- 
formed in  the  calendar  of  their  martyrs.  In  a  word,  provided 
they  have  muttered  against  any  one  point  of  our  tenets,  espe- 
cially inveighed  against  the  Pope,  in  other  respects,  be  they  what 
they  will,  and  of  what  opinion  soever,  they  stand  on  the  list  of 
Protestant  ancestry,  and  are  deemed  worthy  to  keep  up  the  suc- 
cession of  that  Church. 

2. — The  Vaudois  and  Jllhigenses  a  weak  support  to  Calvhiists. 
But  of  all  the  predecessors  the  Protestants  have  made  choice 
of,  the  most  welcome  to  them,  at  least  to  the  Calvinists,  are  the 
Vaudois  and  Albigenses.  What  can  be  their  aim  in  this?  It 
were  but  a  weak  support.  To  make  their  antiquity  rise  some 
ages  higher,  (for  the  Vaudois,  allowing  them  all  they  desire,  and 
Peter  de  Bruis,  with  his  disciple  Henry,  reach  no  further  than 
♦  Jon.  Aur.  prsef.  conU  Claud.  Taur, 


48  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

the  eleventh  age,)  and  there  to  stop  short  unable  to  show  one 
before  them,  is  being  forced  to  stand  much  beneath  the  time  of 
the  Apostles ;  it  is  calling  for  help  from  men  as  weak  and  as 
much  put  to  it  as  themselves  ;  who,  alike  with  them,  are  chal- 
lenged to  show  their  predecessors  ;  who,  no  more  than  they,  are 
able  to  produce  them ;  who,  by  consequence,  are  guilty  of  the 
same  crime  of  innovation  they  are  accused  of;  so  that  naming 
them  in  this  cause,  is  naming  accomplices  of  the  same  crime, 
not  witnesses  that  may  lawfully  depose  in  their  defence. 
3. — Why  the  Ccdvinists  lay  a  stress  07i  them. 

Nevertheless,  this  support,  such  as  it  is,  is  eagerly  embraced 
by  our  Calvinists,  and  the  reason  is  this.  The  Vaudois  and 
Albigenses,  it  seems,  formed  churches  separated  from  Rome, 
which  Berengarius  and  Wickliff  never  did.  Making  them  there- 
fore their  ancestors,  is  giving  themselves,  in  some  manner,  a 
series  of  church  succession.  As  the  origin  of  these  churches, 
no  less  than  the  faith  they  made  profession  of,  v/as  as  yet  some- 
what obscure  at  the  time  of  the  pretended  Reformation,  the 
people  were  made  believe  that  they  were  of  a  very  ancient  date, 
and  sprung  from  the  first  ages  of  Christianity. 

4. — Ridiculous  pretensions  of  the  Vaudois  and  of  Beza. 

I  wonder  not  that  Leger,  one  of  the  Vaudois  Barbes  (for  so 
they  called  their  pastors)  and  their  most  celebrated  historian, 
has  given  into  this  error,  for  he  was  unquestionably  the  most 
bold  and  ignorant  of  all  mankind.  But  there  is  reason  to  wonder 
that  it  was  embraced  by  Beza,  and  that  he  has  written  in  his 
Ecclesiastical  History,  not  only  that  the  Yaudois,  time  imme- 
morial, had  opposed  the  abuses  of  the  Church  of  Rome,*  but 
also,  in  the  year  1541,  entered  on  record,  by  a  public  and  au- 
thentic act,  the  doctrine  taught  them  as  from  father  to  son  dov/n 
from  the  year  120,  after  Christ's  nativity,  as  their  ancient  pre- 
decessors always  had  informed  them.| 

5. — False  oi'igiii  boasted  of  by  the  Vaudois. 

Here  is  certainly  a  fine  tradition,  had  it  but  the  least  proof  to 
countenance  it.  But,  unfortunately,  Waldo's  first  disciples  did 
not  trace  it  up  so  high  ;  and  the  remotest  antiquity  they  chal- 
lenged was  of  withdrawing  from  the  Church  of  Rome  at  the 
time  when,  under  Pope  Sylvester  I,  she  accepted  the  temporal 
domains  that  Constantine,  the  first  Christian  Emperor,  endowed 
her  with.  This  is  so  frivolous  a  cause  of  rupture,  and  the  pre- 
tension withal  so  ridiculous,  as  not  to  deserve  refuting.  A  man 
must  have  lost  his  wits  to  persuade  himself  that,  ever  since  St. 
Sylvester's  time,  that  is  about  the  year  320,  there  was  a  sect 
amongst  Christians  which  the  Fathers  new  nothing  of.     Wc 

*  L.  L  p.  35.  t  Ibid.  39. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  49 

have  in  the  councils  held  in  the  communion  of  the  Roman 
Church,  anathemas  pronounced  against  an  infinity  of  different 
sects  ;  we  have  the  catalogues  of  heresies  drawn  by  St.  Epiph- 
anius,  by  St.  Austin,  and  several  other  church  authors.  The 
most  obscure  and  the  least  followed  sects,  those  which  appeared 
in  a  corner  of  the  world,  as  that  of  certain  women  called  Colly- 
ridians,  who  were  to  be  met  with  only  in  some  part  of  Arabia, 
that  of  the  Tertullianists  or  Abelians,  who  were  only  in  Car- 
thage, or  in  some  villages  near  Hippo,  and  many  others  equally 
obscure,  did  not  escape  their  knowledge.*  The  zeal  of  pastors 
that  labored  to  bring  back  the  strayed  sheep,  discovered  all  to 
save  all ;  none  but  these  separatists  on  account  of  ecclesiastical 
revenues  were  unknown  to  every  body.  These  men,  more  tem- 
perate than  an  Athanasius,  a  Basil,  an  Ambrose,  and  all  the 
other  doctors,  more  wise  than  all  the  councils,  who,  without  re- 
jecting goods  given  to  the  Church,  were  contented  with  making 
rules  for  their  just  administration  ;  so  well,  I  say,  did  these  men 
play  their  part,  as  never  to  have  been  heard  of  by  them.  The 
assurance  to  assert  this,  was  certainly  the  height  of  impudence 
in  the  first  Vaudois ;  but,  with  Beza,  to  trace  back  this  sect, 
unknown  to  all  ages,  up  to  the  year  of  our  Lord  120,  is  giving 
himself  ancestors  and  church  succession  by  too  glaring  an  im- 
position. 

6. — The  design  of  this  Eleventh  Book,  and  what  is  to  be  shoion  therein. 

The  Reformed,  disgusted  at  their  novelty,  which  they  were 
continually  upbraided  with,  stood  in  need  of  this  weak  support. 
But,  in  order  to  derive  some  advantage  from  it,  it  was  also  requi- 
site to  set  other  artifices  on  foot ;  it  was  requisite  to  conceal 
carefully  the  true  state  of  these  Albigenses  and  Vaudois.  Of 
two  quite  different  sects  they  made  but  one  ;  and  ihis,  lest  the 
Reformed  should  discover  amongst  their  ancestors  a  too  manifest 
contrariety.  But,  above  all,  their  abominable  doctrine  was  kept 
a  secret ;  no  notice  taken  that  these  Albigenses  were  complete 
Manicheans,  no  less  than  Peter  de  Bruis  and  Henry  his  disciple  ; 
not  a  word  that  these  Vaudois  had  separated  from  the  Church 
upon  grounds  equally  detested  by  the  new  Reformation,  and  by 
the  Church  of  Rome.  The  same  dissimulation  was  used  in 
regard  of  the  Polish  Vaudois,  who  were  but  nominally  such  ;  and 
the  people  kept  ignorant  that  their  doctrine  was  neither  that  of 
the  ancient  Vaudois,  nor  that  of  the  Calvinists,  nor  that  of  the 
Lutherans.  The  history  I  am  going  to  furnish  of  these  three 
sects,  although  epitomized,  will  be  nevertheless  supported  with 
such  pregnant  proofs,  as  to  make  the  Calvinists  ashamed  of  the 
ancestors  whom  they  have  selected  for  themselves. 

*  Epiph.  haer.  79.  Aug.  hacr.  86,  S7.    Tertull. 
VOL.  II,  6 


50  *rHE    HISTORY   OP  [bOOK 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEW  MANICHEANS,  CALLED  THE 

HERETICS  OF  TOULOUSE  AND  ALBY. 

7. — Errors  of  the  Manicheans,  progenitors  of  the  Mbigenses. 

In  order  to  understand  what  follows,  you  must  not  be  wholly 
ignorant  what  these  Manicheans  were.  Their  whole  theology 
turned  on  the  question  of  the  origin  of  evil ;  they  beheld  it  in  the 
world,  and  were  for  discovering  its  principle.  It  could  not  be 
God,  because  he  is  infinitely  good.  It  was  therefore  necessary, 
said  they,  to  acknowledge  another  principle,  which,  being  evil 
by  its  nature,  might  be  the  cause  and  origin  of  evil.  Here  then 
is  the  foundation  of  the  error  :  two  first  principles,  one  of  good, 
the  other  of  evil ;  enemies  by  consequence,  and  of  a  contrary 
nature  ;  which  having  fought  and  mixed  in  the  strife,  one  diffused 
good  on  the  world,  the  other  evil ;  one  light,  the  other  darkness  ; 
and  so  on — for  it  is  needless  to  relate  here  all  the  impious  ex- 
travagances of  this  abominable  sect.  It  sprung  from  Paganism, 
and  its  principles  may  be  seen  even  in  Plato.  It  reigned  amongst 
the  Persians.  Plutarch  has  acquainted  us  with  the  names  they 
gave  to  the  good  and  evil  cause.  Manes,  a  Persian,  strove  to 
introduce  this  prodigy  into  the  Christian  religion  in  Aurehan's 
reign,  viz.  towards  the  end  of  the  third  century.  Marcion  had 
begun  some  years  before ;  and  his  sect,  divided  into  many 
branches,  had  prepared  the  way  for  the  impieties  and  reveries 
Manes  grafted  on  it. 

8. —  Consequences  of  the  false  Principle  of  the  Manicheans. 

Now  the  consequences  which  these  heretics  drew  from  this 
doctrine  were  no  less  absurd  than  impious.  The  Old  Testament, 
with  all  its  severity,  was  but  a  fable,  or  at  best,  but  the  product 
of  the  evil  principle  ;  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation  an  illusion  ; 
and  the  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ  a  phantom  :  for  flesh  being  the 
work  of  the  evil  principle,  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  the  good  God, 
could  not,  in  truth,  have  vested  himself  with  it.  As  our  bodies 
came  from  the  bad  principle,  and  our  souls  from  the  good,  or 
rather  were  the  very  substance  of  it,  it  was  not  lawful  to  beget 
children,  nor  unite  the  substance  of  the  good  principle  with  that 
of  the  bad  ;  so  that  marriage,  or  rather  the  generation  of  children, 
was  prohibited.  The  flesh  of  animals,  and  every  thing  proceed- 
ing from  it,  as  white  meats,  was  the  work  of  the  evil  cause  ;  the 
same  of  wine  :  all  these  were  impure  by  nature,  and  the  use  of 
them  criminal.  Here  then  are  manifestly  those  men  seduced  by 
devils,  of  whom  St.  Paul  speaks,  that  were  "  In  latter  times  .... 
to  forbid  to  marry,"  and  command  "  to  abstain  from  meats,"  as 
unclean,  "which  God  hath  created."* 

*  1  Tim.  iv.  1,3. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  51 

9. — The  Manicheans  endeavored  to  justify  themselves  by  the  usages  of  the 

Church. 

These  wretches,  who  sought  only  to  deceive  the  world  by 
appearances,  endeavored  to  justify  themselves  by  the  example 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  wherein  the  number  of  those  that  for- 
bore marriage,  from  the  profession  of  continence,  was  very  great, 
and  abstinence  from  certain  meats  was  either  practised  always, 
as  by  many  Anchorets  after  Daniel's  example,  or  at  particular 
times,  as  in  Lent.  But  the  holy  fathers  replied,  that  there  was 
a  great  difference  between  those  that  condemned  the  procreation 
of  children,  as  the  Manicheans  did  expressly,  and  those  that 
preferred  continence  to  it  with  St.  Paul  and  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self, and  judged  it  unlawful  for  them  to  look  back,  after  making 
profession  of  so  perfect  a  state  of  life.*  Besides,  it  was  a  differ- 
ent thing  to  abstain  from  certain  meats,  either  to  signify  some 
mystery,  as  in  the  Old  Testament,  or  to  mortify  the  senses,  as 
was  still  continued  in  the  new ;  a  different  thing  to  condemn 
them  with  the  Manicheans,  as  impure,  as  evil,  as  the  work,  not 
of  God,  but  of  the  bad  principle.  And  the  fathers  observed,  that 
the  apostle  expressly  impugned  this  latter  sense,  which  was  that 
of  the  Manicheans,  by  these  words  :  every  creature  of  God  is 
good.  And,  again,  by  these  :  nothing  is  to  be  refused  of  all 
God  has  created ;  from  thence  concluding,  that  there  was  no 
wonder  the  Holy  Ghost  had  warned  the  faithful  so  long  before, 
by  the  mouth  of  St.  Paul,  against  so  great  an  abomination. 

10. — Three  other  Characteristics  of  the  Manicheans. — First,  the  Spirit  of 

Seduction. 

Such  were  the  principal  points  of  the  Manichean  doctrine. 
But  this  sect  had,  besides,  two  remarkable  characteristics ;  one, 
that  in  the  midst  of  these  impious  absurdities,  which  the  devil 
had  inspired  them  with,  they  yet  mixed  something  in  their  dis- 
courses of  so  specious  a  nature,  so  prodigiously  seducing,  that 
St.  Austin  himself,  so  great  a  genius,  was  ensnared  thereby,  and 
remained  amongst  them  nine  whole  years,  a  great  zealot  of  this 
sect. "I"  It  was  observed,  likewise,  that  this  was  one  of  those 
heresies  which  it  is  most  difficult  to  be  reclaimed  from  ;  for,  to 
impose  upon  the  vulgar,  it  had  jugghng  and  unaccountable 
delusions,  so  far  even  as  to  be  taxed  with  sorcery  ;  in  a  word, 
none  of  the  implements  of  seduction  were  wanting  to  it. 
,  11. —  Second  Characteristic,  Hypocrisy. 

The  second  characteristic  of  the  Manicheans  is,  their  knowing 
how  to  conceal  what  was  most  detestable  in  their  sect,  with  so 
profound  an  artifice,  that  not  only  strangers,  but  even  those  of 

*  Aug.  1.  XXX.  cont.  Faust.  Man.  c.  3,  4,  5,  6.  Dan.  1,  8,  12.  1  Cor.  vii. 
26,  32,  34,  38.     Matt.  xix.  12.     Luke  ix.  62.     1  Tim.  iv.  4. 

t  L.  ii.  cont.  Faus.  Man.  c.  19 ;  et  L  iv.  Conf.  c.  L  Theod.  1. 1  haer.  Fab. 
c.  ult.  de  Manich.    Ibid. 


52  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

the  profession,  passed  a  long  time  amongst  them  in  ignorance 
thereof.  For  beneath  the  colorable  pretext  of  chastity  they  hid 
impurities  not  to  be  named,  and  which  made  part  of  their  very 
mysteries.  Amongst  them  were  several  degrees.  Those  whom 
they  called  auditors,  knew  not  the  bottom  of  their  sect ;  and 
their  elect,  namely,  those  that  were  let  into  the  whole  mystery, 
carefully  kept  close  from  their  probationers  the  abominable 
secret,  till  they  had  been  prepared  for  it  by  several  gradations. 
They  made  a  show  of  abstinence  and  the  exterior  of  a  life  not 
only  good,  but  mortified  ;  and  one  part  of  the  seduction  was, 
the  arriving  as  it  were  by  stages  to  that  which  was  believed  the 
more  perfect,  because  hidden. 

12. — Third  Characteristic  :   Mixing  with  the  Catholics  in  the  Churches,  and 
concealing  themselves. 

For  the  third  characteristic  of  these  heretics,  we  may  further 
observe  in  them  a  surprising  dexterity  in  mixing  with  the  faith- 
ful, and  concealing  themselves  under  the  appearance  of  the  same 
profession  ;  for  this  dissimulation  was  one  of  the  artifices  they 
employed  to  inveigle  men  into  their  sentiments.*  They  were 
seen  promiscuously  with  others  in  the  churches ;  there  they 
received  the  communion  ;  and  although  they  never  received  the 
blood  of  our  Lord,  as  well  because  they  detested  wine  used  in 
consecration,  as  also  because  they  did  not  believe  Jesus  Christ 
had  true  blood,  the  liberty  allowed  in  the  Church  of  partaking 
of  one  or  both  kinds,  was  the  cause  that,  for  a  long  time,  the 
perpetual  affectation  of  their  rejecting  that  of  wine,  passed  un- 
perceived.  At  length,  St.  Leo  discovered  them  by  this  mark : 
but  their  cunning  to  elude  the  notice  of  the  Catholics,  however 
vigilant,  was  so  great,  that  they  still  concealed  themselves,  and 
scarce  were  discovered  under  the  pontificate  of  St.  Gelasius. 
At  that  time,  therefore,  in  order  to  render  them  wholly  dis- 
tinguishable to  the  people,  it  was  necessary  to  proceed  to  an 
express  prohibition  of  communicating  otherwise  than  under  both 
kinds ;  and  to  show  that  this  prohibition  was  not  founded  on 
the  necessity  of  always  taking  them  conjointly,  St.  Gelasius  f 
grounds  it  in  formal  terms  on  this  ground,  because  those  who 
refused  the  sacred  wine  did  it  through  a  certain  superstition ; 
an  evident  proof,  that,  were  it  not  for  this  superstition,  which 
rejected  one  of  the  parts  of  this  mystery  as  evil,  the  usage  in  its 
nature  had  been  free  and  indifferent,  even  in  solemn  assemblies. 
Protestants  that  believed  this  word,  superstition,  was  not  strong 
enough  to  express  the  abominable  practices  of  the  Manicheans, 
did  not  reflect  that  this  word,  in  the  Latin  tongue,  signifies  all 
false  religion  ;  but  that  it  is  particularly  appropriated  to  the  Mani- 

*  Leo  i.  Serm  45.     Qui  est  iv.  de  Gluadr.  c.  5. 
t  G  elas.  in  Dec.  Grat  de  conf.  distinct  2.  c.  Comperimus.  Yvo.  Microl.  &c. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  53 

chean  sect,  on  account  of  their  abstinences  and  superstitious 
observances :  the  books  of  St.  Austin  proves  this  sufficiently.* 

13. — The  PaiUicians  or  Manicheans  of  Armenia. 
This  so  hidden  a  sect,  so  abominable,  so  full  of  seduction,  of 
superstition,  and  hypocrisy,  notwithstanding  imperial  law^s  which 
condemned  its  followers  to  death,  yet  maintained  and  diffused 
itself.  The  Emperor  Anastasius,  and  the  Empress  Theodora, 
wife  to  Justinian,  had  given  it  countenance.  The  followers 
thereof  are  to  be  seen  under  the  children  of  Heraclius,  that  is, 
in  the  seventh  age,  in  Armenia,  a  province  bordering  on  Persia, 
the  birthplace  of  this  detestable  superstition,  and  formerly  sub- 
ject to  the  empire.  They  were  there  settled,^  or  confirmed  by 
one  named  Paul,  from  whom  the  name  of  Paulicians  was  given 
them  in  the  ^East,  by  one  named  Constantine,  and,  finally,  by 
one  named  Sergius.  They  arrived  to  such  great  power  in  that 
country,  either  by  the  weakness  of  the  government,  or  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Saracens,  or  even  by  the  favor  of  the  Emperor 
Nicephoras,  much  wedded  to  this  sect,  that  at  length,  being  per- 
secuted by  the  Empress  Theodora,  the  wife  of  Basil,  they 
were  able  to  build  cities,  and  take  up  arms  against  their  sove- 
reigns.+ 

14. — History  of  the  Paulicians,  by  Peter  of  Sicily,  addressed  to  the  Archbishop 

of  Bulgaria. 

These  wars  were  long  and  bloody  under  the  reign  of  Basil 
the  Macedonian,  to  wit,  at  the  close  of  the  ninth  century.  Peter 
of  Sicily^  was  sent  by  this  Emperor  to  Tibrica  in  Armenia, 
which  Cedrenus  calls  Tephrica,  a  stronghold  of  these  heretics, 
to  treat  about  the  exchange  of  prisoners.  During  this  time,  he 
became  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Paulicians,  and  dedi- 
cated a  book  concerning  their  errors  to  the  Archbishop  of  Bul- 
garia, for  reasons  hereafter  specified.  Yossius  acknowledges 
we  are  much  obliged  to  Raderus  for  giving  us,  in  Greek  and 
Latin,  so  particular  and  so  excellent  a  history.  ||  There,  Peter 
of  Sicilyir  paints  out  to  us  these  heretics  in  their  proper  char- 
acters, their  principles,  the  contempt  they  had  for  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, their  prodigious  address  in  concealing  themselves  when 
they  pleased,  and  the  other  marks  already  mentioned.  But  he 
notices  two  or  three  which  must  not  be  forgotten,  viz.,  their 
particular  aversion  to  the  Images  of  Christ  crucified,^*  a  natural 
consequence  of  their  error,  forasmuch  as  they  rejected  the  pas- 
sion and  death  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  their  contempt  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  whom  they  did  not  account  the  mother  of  Jesus  Christ, 

*  De  Morib.  Ecc.  Cath.  c.  34.  De  morib.  Manich.  c.  18.  Cent.  Ep.  fun- 
dam,  c.  15.  t  Cedr.  t.  i.  p.  432.  J  Ibid.  t.  ii.  p.  480.  Ibid.  p.  541. 
§  Pet.  Sic.  Hist,  de  Manich.  Cedr.  lb.  541,  &c.  ||  Voss!  de  Hist.  Graec 
V  Pet.  Sic.    lb.  Preef.&c.                **  Ibid. 

VOL.  II.  6* 


54  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

since  they  denied  liis  human  flesh  ;  and,  above  all,  their  abhor- 
rence of  the  Eucharist.* 

15. — The  conformity  of  the  Paulicians  with  the  Manicheans^  whom  St.  Austin 

refuted. 

Cedrenufl,t  who  has  taken  the  greatest  part  of  what  he  writes 
of  the  Paulicians  from  this  historian,  instances,  after  him,  these 
three  characteristics,  namely,  their  aversion  to  the  Cross,  to  the 
blessed  Virgin,  and  the  holy  Eucharist.  The  same  sentiments 
had  the  Manicheans  of  old.  We  learn  from  St.  Austin, J  that 
their  Eucharist  was  different  from  ours,  and  something  so  ex- 
ecrable as  not  to  be  thought  on,  much  less  written.  But  the 
new  Manicheans  had  also  received,  from  the  ancient,  another 
doctrine,  we  are  to  observe.  So  long  since  as  St.  Austin's  time, 
Faustus,  the  Manichean,  upbraided  the  Catholics  with  their  idol- 
atry in  the  honor  they  paid  the  holy  martyrs,  and  in  the  sacri- 
fices they  oiTered  on  their  relics.  §  St.  Austin  pointed  out  to  them 
that  this  worship  had  nothing  common  with  that  of  the  heathens, 
because  it  was  not  the  worship  of  Latria,  or  of  subjection  and 
perfect  servitude  ;  and  if  they  offered  to  God  the  holy  oblation 
of  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  at  the  tombs  and  on  the 
relics  of  the  martyrs,  they  were  far  from  offering  to  them  this 
sacrifice,  but  hoped  only  "  To  excite  themselves  thereby  to  the 
imitation  of  their  virtues,  to  be  brought  into  partnership  with  their 
merits  ;  and,  lastly,  to  be  assisted  by  their  prayers."  So  clear 
an  answer  did  not  prevent  the  new  Manicheans  from  continuing 
the  calumnies  of  their  forefathers.  Peter  of  Sicily ||  acquaints 
us,  that  a  Manichean  woman  seduced  an  ignorant  layman  called 
Sergius,  by  telling  him.  Catholics  honored  the  saints  as  divinities, 
and  for  that  reason  laymen  were  hindered  from  reading  the  Holy 
Scripture,  lest  they  should  discover  a  number  of  the  like  errors. 

16. — The  design  of  the  Paulicians  on  the  Bulgarians  ;  and  Peter  of  Sicily's 
instruction  to  hinder  the  effect. 

It  was  by  such  calumnies  as  these  the  Manicheans  seduced 
the  ignorant.  A  great  desire  of  enlarging  their  sect  was  always 
remarked  amongst  them.  Peter  of  SicilylT  discovered,  whilst 
ambassador  at  Tibrica,  that  it  was  resolved  in  the  council  of  the 
Paulicians,  to  send  preachers  of  their  sect  into  Bulgaria,  in  order 
to  seduce  those  new  converts.  Thrace,  bordering  on  this  prov- 
ince, had  been  infected  with  this  heresy  long  before.  So  there 
was  but  too  much  reason  to  fear  the  worst  for  the  Bulgarians, 
should  the  Pauhcians,  the  most  cunning  of  the  Manichean  sect, 
attempt  to  seduce  them ;  and  it  was  this  which  induced  Peter 
of  Sicily  to  inscribe  the  above-mentioned  book  to  their  arch- 

*  Pet.  Sic.  lb.  Prref.  &c.  f  Cedr.  t.  ii.  p.  434.  J  Aug.  hcer. 

46,  &c.  Lib.  .\x.  Cont.  Faus.  c.  4.  §  Ibid.  c.  21,  et  seq.  Ibid.  c.  18. 

11  Peter  Sic.  ibid.  If  Peter  Sic  initio  lib. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  55 

bishop,  to  secure  them  against  such  dangerous  heretics.     In 

spite  of  all  his  pains,  it  is  certain  the  Manichean  heresy  took 

deep  root  in  Bulgaria,  and  thence  soon  after  spread  itself  over 

the  other  parts  of  Europe  ;  whence  came,  as  we  shall  see,  the 

name  of  Bulgarians,  given  as  the  followers  of  this  heresy. 

17. — The  Manicheans  begin  to  appear  in  the  West  after  the  year  of  our  Lord 

one  thousayid. 

A  thousand  years  had  elapsed  since  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  prodigious  relaxation  of  discipline  threatened  the  West- 
ern Church  with  some  extraordinary  disaster.  Besides,  it  was 
not  unlikely  the  dreadful  time  when  Satan  was  to  be  let  loose, 
foretold  in  the  Revelations,*  after  a  thousand  years,  which  may 
denote  a  thousand  years  after  the  strong-armed,  to  wit,  the  vic- 
torious Satan,  was  bound  by  Jesus  Christ  at  his  coming  into  the 
world.!  Howsoever  that  may  be,  in  this  time  and  in  1017,  during 
King  Robert's  reign,  heretics  were  discovered  at  Orleans,  of 
such  a  doctrine,  as  long  before  had  been  unheard  of  amongst 
the  Latins.  J 

18. — Manicheans  that  come  from  Italy,  discovered  at  Orleans  in  the  time  of 

King  Robert. 

An  Italian  woman  brought  into  France  this  abominable  heresy. 
Two  Canons  of  Orleans, §  one  called  Stephen  or  Heribert ;  the 
other  Lisoius,  both  men  of  reputation,  were  the  first  inveigled. 
There  was  great  difficulty  in  discovering  their  secret.  But  at 
length  a  person,  named  Arifaste,  suspecting  what  it  might  be, 
having  insinuated  himself  into  their  famiharity,  these  heretics 
and  their  followers  confessed,  after  a  great  deal  of  pains,  that 
they  denied  the  human  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ ;  that  they  did  not 
believe  remission  of  sins  was  given  in  baptism  ;  nor  that  the 
bread  and  wine  could  be  changed  into  the  body  and  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ.  It  was  discovered,  they  had  a  particular  Eucha- 
rist, by  them  called  the  celestial  food.  It  was  cruel  and  abomi- 
nable, and  wholly  suitable  to  the  Manichean  genius,  although 
not  found  amongst  those  of  old.  But  besides  what  was  seen  at 
Orleans,  Guy  of  Nogent||  also  takes  notice  of  it  in  other  coun- 
tries ;  nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  new  prodigies  are  to  be 
met  with  in  so  close  a  sect,  whether  invented  by  them,  or  but 
newly  brought  to  light. 

19. — Sequel. 

Here  are  the  general  characteristics  of  Manicheism.  We 
have  seen  these  heretics  reject  the  incarnation.  As  for  baptism, 
St.  AustinlT  says  expressly,  the  Manicheans  did  not  give  it,  and 
believed  it  useless.   Peter  of  Sicily,**  and  after  him  Cedrenus,tt 

*  Rev.  XX.  2,  3,  7.  f  Matt.  xii.  29.  Luke  xi.  21,  22.  t  Acta  Cone.  Aurel. 
spicil.  t.  il  Cone.  Lab.  t.  ix.  Glab.  lib.  iii.  c.  8.  §  Glab.  ibid.  Aeta,  Cone. 

Aurel.  II  Do  vixk  sua,  lib.  iii.  c.  16.  H  Do  haer.  in  haer.  Man.  *+  Peter, 
Sic.  ib.  tt  Cedr.  t.  i.  p.  434. 


56  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

tell  us  the  same  of  the  Pauhcians  ;  altogether  they  show  us  that 
the  Manicheans  had  a  different  Eucharist  from  ours.  What  was 
said  by  the  heretics  of  Orleans,  that  we  ought  not  to  beg  the 
saints'  assistance,  was  also  of  the  same  stamp,  and  sprung,  as 
is  seen  above,  from  the  ancient  source  of  this  sect. 

20. — Sequel. 

They  said  nothing  openly  of  the  two  principles,  but  spoke  with 
contempt  of  the  creation,  and  the  books  which  record  it,  meaning 
the  Old  Testament ;  and  confessed,  at  the  very  time  of  their 
execution,  that  they  had  entertained  evil  sentiments  concerning 
the  Lord  of  the  universe.*  The  reader  will  remember,  that  he 
was  judged  the  evil  principle  by  the  Manicheans.  They  went 
to  the  stake  with  joy,  in  hopes  of  a  miraculous  delivery,  so 
strangely  were  they  possessed  with  the  spirit  of  seduction.  Now 
this  was  the  first  instance  of  the  like  punishment.  It  is  known, 
the  Roman  laws  condemned  the  Manicheans  to  death ;  the  holy 
King  Robert  judged  them  worthy  of  the  fiames.| 

21. — The  same  Heresy  in  Gascony  and  at  Toidouse. 
A'i  the  same  time,  the  same  heresy  is  discovered  in  Aquitaine 
and  Toulouse,  as  appears  by  the  history  of  Ademarus,^  of  Cha- 
banes,  monk  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Cibard,  in  Angouleme,  contem- 
porary with  these  heretics.  An  ancient  writer  of  the  history 
of  X  quitaine,  pubhshed  by  the  celebrated  Peter  Pithou,§  in- 
forms us  that  they  were  discovered  in  this  province,  whereof 
Peri;j!;ord  made  part,  "  Manicheans,  that  rejected  baptism,  the 
sign  of  the  holy  cross,  the  church,  and  the  Redeemer  himself; 
den}  ing  his  incarnation  and  passion,  and  the  honor  due  to  saints, 
lawful  marriage,  and  the  use  of  meat."  And  the  same  author 
sho\  s  us  they  were  of  the  same  sect  with  the  heretics  of  Or- 
leans, whose  error  came  from  Italy. 

22. — The  Manicheans  of  Italy  called  Cathari,  and  xchy. 
In  effect,  we  see  the  Manicheans  had  settled  in  that  country. 
They  were  called  Cathari,  as  much  as  to  say,  pure.  Formerly 
other  heretics  had  assumed  that  name,  the  Novatians,  in  the 
persjasion  that  their  life  was  more  pure  than  that  of  others,  on 
accc  unt  of  the  severity  of  their  discipline.  But  the  Manicheans, 
elatod  with  their  continency  and  abstinence  from  flesh,  which 
they  believed  unclean,  accounted  themselves  not  only  Cathari, 
or  },ure,  but  also,  as  St.  Austin [j  relates,  Catharists,  namely, 
puri'iers,  by  reason  of  that  part  of  the  divine  substance,  which 
was  mixed  with  the  herbs  and  pulse  together  with  the  contrary 
substance,  from  which,  in  eating  them,  they  separated  and  puri- 

*  Cedr.  t.  i.  p.  434.  f  Cond.  de  haer.  1.  52.  f  Bib.  nov.  I'Abb.  t.  ii. 

pp.  1"6,  180.         §  Frag.  Hist.  Aquit.  editaa  Petro  Pith.  Bar.  t.  xi.  An.  1017 
II  De  haer.  in  haer.  Man. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  57 

fied  this  divine  substance.  These,  I  own,  are  monstrous  opin- 
ions ;  and  it  were  hardly  to  be  believed,  that  men  could  have 
been  so  strangely  infatuated,  had  not  experience  taught  us  that 
God  sets,  to  man's  proud  mind,  examples  of  the  blindness  he 
may  fail  into,  when  abandoned  to  himself.  This,  then,  is  the 
true  original  of  the  heretics  of  France,  sprung  from  the  Cathari 
of  Italy. 

23. — Origin  of  the  Manicheans  of  Toulouse  and  Italy. — Proof  that  they  came 

from  Bulgaria. 

Vignier,  whom  our  reformed  have  accounted  the  restorer  of 
history  in  the  last  age,  speaks  of  this  heresy,  and  the  discovery 
thereof  made  in  the  Council  of  Orleans,  whose  date  he  places, 
by  mistake,  in  1022,  and  observes,  that  "In  this  year  many 
people  were  taken  and  burnt,  for  the  crime  of  heresy,  in  the 
presence  of  king  Robert ;  for  it  is  written,"  continues  he,  "  that 
they  spoke  ill  of  God  and  the  Sacraments,  to  wit,  of  baptism 
and  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  likewise  of  mar- 
riage ;"  nor  would  eat  meats  that  had  blood  and  fat,  reputing 
them  unclean.*  He  reports,  also,  that  the  chief  of  these  here- 
tics was  called  Stephen,  whereof  he  cites  Glaber  as  a  witness, 
with  the  chronicle  of  St.  Cibard ;  "  according  to  whose  testi- 
mony," proceeds  he,  "  many  other  followers  of  the  same  heresy, 
called  Manicheans,  were  executed  elsewhere,  as  at  Toulouse 
and  in  Italy."  No  matter  though  this  author  was  mistaken  in 
the  date,  and  some  other  circumstances  of  his  history ;  he  had 
not  seen  the  acts,  which  have  been  recovered  since  that  time. 
It  is  enough  that  this  heresy  of  Orleans,  which  had  Stephen  for 
one  of  its  authors,  on  the  enormities  of  which  king  Robert  took 
vengeance, and  whose  history  Glaber  hath  reported,  be  acknovvl- 
edged  for  Manichean  by  Yignier  ;  that  he  held  it  for  the  source 
of  that  heresy  which  afterwards  was  punished  at  Toulouse,  and 
that  all  this  impiety,  as  we  are  going  to  see,  was  derived  from 
Bulgaria. 

24. — The  same  Origin  proved  by  an  ancient  Axithor  quoted  by  Vignier — 
{addition  to  the  Second  Part.) 

An  ancient  author,  cited  in  the  additions  of  the  same  Vignier, 
leaves  no  room  to  doubt  of  it.  The  passage  of  this  author, 
which  Vignier  transcribes  entire  in  Latin,  imports,  "  that  as 
soon  as  the  heresy  of  the  Bulgarians  began  to  spread  itself  in 
Lombardy,  they  had  tor  Bishop  a  certain  man  called  Mark,  who 
had  received  his  ordination  from  Bulgaria,  and  under  whom 
were  the  Lombards,  the  Tuscans,  and  those  of  Mark  Ancona ; 
but  that  another  Pope,  named  Nicetas,  came  from  Constanti- 
nople into  Lombardy,  who  impeached  the  ordination  of  Bulga- 
ria ;  and  that  Mark  had  received  his  from  Drungaria."j" 

*  Bib  Hist.  2  p.  in  the  year  1022,  p.  672.  f  ^ib.  Hist.  p.  133. 


58  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

25. — Sequel  of  the  same  Passage. 
What  country  he  meant  by  Drungaria  I  have  no  need  to  ex- 
amii  e.     Renier,  thoroughly  acquainted,  as  we  shall  see,  with 
all  these  Reresies,  tells  us  of  the  Manichean  churches  of  Du- 
granicia  and  Bulgaria,  whence  come  all  the  rest  of  the  sect 
both  in  Italy  and  France  ;*  which  perfectly  well  agrees,  as  is 
plain,  with  Vignier's  author.  |     In  this  same  ancient  author  of 
Vigiiier,  we  see  that  this  heresy,  brought  from  beyond  sea,  to 
wit,  nom  Bulgaria,  thence  spread  itself  thiough  other  provinces, 
where  afterwards  it  was  in  great  vogue,  into  Languedoc,  Tou- 
louse-, and  especially  into  Gascony  ;  whence  the  name  of  Albi- 
genses,  as,  for  the  like  reason,  that  of  Bulgares,  was  conferred 
on  the  sect,  on  account  of  its  origin.     I  shall  not  repeat  what 
VignierJ  observes,  how  the  name  Bulgare  was  turned  to  its 
present  signification  in  our  language.     The  word  is  too  infa- 
mou,;,  but  its  derivation  certain  ;  nor  is  it  less  certain  that  the 
Albigenses  were  called  by  this  name  in  token  of  the  place  they 
came  from,  namely  from  Bulgaria. 
26. — Council  of  Tours  and  Toulouse  against  the  Manicheans  of  this  last  city. 
There  needs  no  more  to  convict  these  heretics  of  Manicheism, 
Butv  in  process  of  time,  the  evil  grew  more  apparent,  principally 
in  Languedoc  and  Toulouse,  for  this  city  was  hke  the  metrop- 
ohs  of  the  sect,  "  whence  the  heresy,  extending  itself,"  as  speaks 
the  Canon  of  Alexander  III,  in  the  Council  of  Tours,  "  like  a 
cancer,  into  the  neighboring  countries,  infected  Gascony  and 
the  other  provinces."§     As  the  source  of  the  evil,  as  I  may  say, 
there  took  its  rise,  there  also  the  remedy  was  first  applied.    The 
Pope,  CaUixtus  II,  held  a  Council  at  Toulouse,  ||  where  were 
conflemned  the  heretics  that  "  rejected  the  sacrament  of  our 
Lord's  body  and  blood,  infant  baptism,  the  priesthood,  and  all 
ecclesiastical  orders,  with  lawful  marriage."     The  same  canon 
was  repeated  in  the  general  Council  of  LateranlT  under  Innocent 
II.     The  character  of  Manicheism  is  here  seen  in  the  condem- 
nation of  marriage.     And  again,  in  rejecting  the  sacrament  of 
the  Eucharist ;  for  it  ought  to  be  particularly  observed,  that  the 
canon  imports,  not  that  these  heretics  had  some  error  respecting 
the  .sacrament,  but  that  they  rejected  it,  as  we  have  seen  the 
Mai'icheans  did  likewise. 

27. — Their  conformity  loith  the  Manicheans  known  by  St.  ^Austin. — The  same 

Heresy  in  Germany. 

As  for  the  priesthood  and  all  ecclesiastical  orders,  the  total 

subversion  of  the  hierarchy  introduced  by  the  Manicheans,  and 

the  contempt  they  had  of  all  church  subordination,  may  be  seen 

*  Ren.  cont.  Wald.  c.  6.  t.  iv.  f  Bibl.  PP.  part  ii.  p.  759. 

i  Vignier,  ib.     §  Cone.  Tur.  ii.  c.  3.     |1  Cone.  Tol.  An.  1119.  Can.  3. 

H  Cone.  Later,  ii.  An.  1139.  Can.  23. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  59 

in  St.  Augustin  and  other  authors.*  In  respect  ot  infant  bap- 
tism, we  shall  observe  hereafter,  that  the  new  Manicheans  im- 
pugned it  with  particular  industry  ;  and  although  they  rejected 
baptism  in  general,  what  struck  men  with  surprise  was  chiefly^ 
the  refusal  they  made  of  this  sacrament  to  children,  whilst  the 
Church  in  general  showed  so  much  eagerness  to  confer  it  on 
them.  Therefore,  the  sensible  characteristics,  whereby  this 
Toulousian,  afterwards  called  Albigensian  heresy,  made  itself 
known,  were  specified  in  this  canon  of  Toulouse  and  Latoran. 
The  bottom  of  the  error  lay  more  deeply  concealed.  But  the 
more  this  cursed  offspring  from  Bulgaria  diffused  itself  in  the 
West,  their  Manichean  tenets  became  the  more  palpable.  They 
penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Germany,  and  the  Emperor  Henry 
IV  there  discovered  them  at  Goslar,  a  city  of  Suabia,  towards 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  surprised  whence  coulo.  pro- 
ceed this  Manichean  progeny. "f"  These  here  v/ere  knov  n  by 
their  abstaining  "  from  the  flesh  of  animals  of  what  kind  soever, 
and  believing  their  use  prohibited."  The  error  soon  spread  in 
Germany  on  all  sides  ;  and  in  the  twelfth  century,  many  of 
these  heretics  were  met  with  near  about  Cologne.  The  rame 
of  Cathari  made  the  sect  known,  and  Ecbert,  a  contemporary 
author  and  able  divine,  shows  us,  in  these  Cathari  near  Cologne, 
all  the  Manichean  characters  ;  J  the  same  detestation  of  flesh 
and  marriage  ;  the  same  contempt  of  baptism  ;  the  same  ab- 
horrence of  communion ;  the  same  repugnance  to  believ*^  the 
truth  of  the  Son  of  God's  incarnation  and  passion :  in  short, 
other  similar  marks  which  it  is  needless  to  repeat. 
28. — Sequel  of  EcberVs  Sentiments  concerning  the  Manicheans  of  Germany. 
But  as  heresies  change,  or  in  time  show  themselves  pkiner, 
so,  many  new  tenets  and  usages  are  perceptible  in  this.  For 
instance,  in  explaining  to  us  amongst  the  rest,  the  contem|)t  the 
Manicheans  had  of  baptism,  Ecbert  informs  us,  that  although 
they  rejected  the  baptism  of  water,  they  gave,  with  lij-hted 
torches,  a  certain  baptism  of  fire,  the  ceremony  of  which  he 
sets  forth.  §  They  were  firmly  opposed  to  infant  baptism,  which 
I  notice  once  more,  it  being  one  of  the  distinguishing  marks  of 
these  new  Manicheans.  ||  They  had  likewise  another  not  less 
remarkable  ;  their  maintaining  that  the  sacraments  lost  their 
virtue  by  the  bad  life  of  those  that  administered  them.  Where- 
fore, they  exaggerated  the  corruption  of  the  clergy,  in  orcer  to 
make  it  appear  that  we  had  no  longer  any  sacraments  amongst 
us  ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  for  which  we  have  seen  they 

*  Aug.  de  hser.  in  haer.  Man.  Ecb.  Serm.  i.  Bib.  PP.  t.  iv.  part  ii.  p.  81. 
Ren.  cont.  Wald.  c.  6.  f  Herm.  cont.  ad  An.  1052.  Par.  To.  xi.  ad  3und. 
An.  Centuriat.  in  Cent.  xi.  c.  5.  sub  fin.  %  Ecb.  Serm.  xii.  adv.  Cath.  t. 
iv.    Bib.  PP.  part  ii.         §  Serm.  i.  viii.  xi.         ||  Serm.  vii.  Serm.  iv.  3i.c. 


60  THE    HISTORY    OF  [eOOK 

were  accused  of  rejecting  all  ecclesiastical  orders,  together  with 
the  priesthood. 

29. — It  is  discovered  that  they  held  tioo  first  Principles. 

The  belief  of  these  new  heretics,  as  to  the  two  principles,  was 
not  as  yet  fully  brought  to  light.  For  although  men  were  very 
sensible  this  was  the  foundation  of  their  rejecting  the  union  of 
both  sexes,  and  whatever  proceeded  from  it  in  all  animals,  as 
flesh,  eggs,  and  white  meats,  yet,  as  far  as  I  can  find,  Ecbert  is 
the  first  that  objects  this  error  to  them  in  express  terms.  Nay, 
he  says,  "  he  had  most  certainly  discovered,"  that  their  private 
motive  for  abstaining  from  flesh  was,  "  Because  the  devil  was 
the  creator  of  it."*  You  see  how  difficult  it  was  to  dive  to  the 
bottom  of  their  doctrine ;  yet  it  appeared  sufficiently  by  its 
consequences. 

30. — Variations  of  these  Heretics. 

We  learn  from  this  same  author, "f"  that  these  heretics  showed 
themselves,  at  times,  more  moderate  in  regard  to  marriage. 
One  called  Hartuvinus  allowed  a  youth  amongst  them  to  marry 
a  maiden,  but  required  they  should  be  both  virgins,  and  not  pro- 
ceed beyond  the  first  child  ;  which  I  take  notice  of,  in  order  to 
show  the  od.dities  of  a  sect  contradictory  to  itself,  and  often 
forced  to  act  counter  to  its  own  principles. 

31. — Their  industry  to  conceal  themselves. 

But  the  most  certain  mark  by  which  to  know  tnese  heretics, 
was  the  pains  they  took  to  conceal  themselves,  not  only  by  re- 
ceiving the  sacraments  with  us,  but  also  by  answering  like  us 
when  urged  regarding  their  faith.  This  was  the  spirit  of  the 
sect  from  its  beginning,  and  we  have  before  taken  notice  of  it, 
ever  since  the  time  of  St.  Austin  and  St.  Leo.  Peter  of  Sicily,  J 
and  after  him  Cedrenus,  show  us  the  same  character  in  the 
Paulicians.  They  did  not  only  deny  in  general  that  they  were 
Manicheans,  but  also,  when  interrogated  in  particular  concern- 
ing each  tenet  of  their  faith,  they  feigned  themselves  Catholics, 
betraying  their  sentiments  by  manifest  lies,  or  at  least  disguising 
them  by  equivocations  worse  than  lies,  because  more  artful  and 
more  fraught  with  hypocrisy.  §  For  example,  when  spoken  to 
concerning  the  water  of  baptism,  they  received  it,  understanding 
by  the  water  of  baptism,  the  doctrine  of  our  Lord,  whereby  souls 
are  purified.  All  they  say  abounded  with  the  like  allegories  ; 
and  men  took  them  for  orthodox,  unless  from  long  custom  they 
had  learned  to  see  through  their  equivocations. 

32. — Their  equivocatio7is  when  interrogated  about  faith. 

Ecbert  informs  us  of  one  which  it  was  impossible  to  guess  at. 

♦  Ecb.  Serm.  vi.  p.  99.  f  Serm.  v.  p.  94. 

X  Petr.  Sic.  init.  lib.  de  Hist.  Man.  §  Ibid.  Cedr.  t.  i.  p.  434. 


XI. J  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  61 

It  was  known  that  they  rejected  the  Eucharist ;  and  when,  to 
sound  them  on  so  important  an  article,  they  were  asked  whether 
they  made  the  body  of  our  Lord  ?  they  answered  readily,  They 
made  it,  understanding  that  their  own  body,  which  they  made 
in  some  wise  by  their  food,  was  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  by 
reason  that,  according  to  St.  Paul,  they  were  the  members  of 
it.*  By  these  artifices  they  appeared,  outwardly,  good  Catho- 
lics. But,  what  is  yet  more  unaccountable,  one  of  their  tenets 
was,  that -the  Gospel  forbade  swearing  for  whatsoever  cause  :t 
nevertheless,  when  examined  concerning  their  religion,  they  be- 
lieved'it  lawful  not  only  to  lie,  but  to  forswear  themselves  ;  and 
had  learned  from  the  ancient  Priscilhanists,  another  branch  of 
the  Manicheans  known  in  Spain,  this  verse,  cited  by  St.  Austin  : 
"  Jura^  perjura,  secretum  prodere  noli  :  Swear  true  or  false,  as 
long  as  thou  betrayest  not  the  secret  of  the  sect. "J  For  which 
reason  E chert  styled  them  obscure  men,  men  that  did  not  preach 
but  whispered  in  the  ear,  who  lurked  in  corners,  and  muttered 
rather  in  private  than  explained  their  doctrine. §  This  was  one 
of  the  sect's  allurements ;  there  was  something  of  a  charm  in 
this  impenetrable  secret  observed  amongst  them ;  and  as  the 
wise  man  said,  "  Those  waters  you  drink  by  stealth  are  the 
pleasantest."||  St.  Bernard,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  these 
heretics,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  remarks  in  them  this  particular 
character,  that  whereas  other  heretics,  urged  on  by  the  spirit  of 
pride,  sought  only  to  make  themselves  known ;  these  on  the 
contrar}^  strove  only  to  conceal  themselves — others  aimed  at 
victory ;  but  these,  more  mischievous,  sought  only  to  aflfhoy, 
lurking  silently  in  the  grass,  that  they  might  instil  their  poison 
the  more  securely  as  the  bite  was  less  expected. IT  The  thing 
was,  their  error,  once  discovered,  was  already  half  vanquished 
by  its  own  absurdity ;  wherefore  they  betook  themselves  to  the 
ignorant,  to  mechanics,  to  silly  women,  to  peasants,  and  recom- 
mended nothing  so  much  to  them  as  this  mysterious  secret. 

33. — Enet-vin  consults  St.  Bernard  about  the  Manicheans  near  Cologne. 

Enervin,  who  served  God  in  a  church  near  Cologne,  at  the 
time  these  new  Manicheans,  whom  Ecbert  speaks  of,  were  dis- 
covered there,  gives  in  the  main  the  same  account  of  them  as 
this  author ;  and  not  finding  in  the  Church  a  greater  doctor  to 
whom  he  could  address  himself  for  their  conviction  than  the 
great  St.  Bernard,  Abbot  of  Clairvaux,  he  wrote  him  that  fine 
letter  which  the  learned  Francis  Mabillon  has  given  us  in  his 
Analects.**     Therein,  besides  the  dogmas  of  these  heretics, 

*  Ecb.  Serm.  i.  ii.  f  Bern,  in  Cant.  Serm.  Ixv.  |  De  heer.  in  haer.  Priscil. 
Ecb.  Serm.  il  Bern.  lb.  init.  lib.  id.  Serm.  i.  ii.  vii,  &c.  §  Ibid^  ||  Prov,  i.y. 
17.  Serm.  \xv.  in  C antic.  IT  Ibid.  Ecb.  iniL  lib.  &c.  Bern.  Serm,  Ixv.  bcvi. 
**  Enervin,  Ep.  ad  S.  Bern.  Anal.  iii.  p.  452  j  Ibid.  pp.  455,  456,  457. 

VOL.  II.  6 


62  ,  THE  HISTORY  OF  [BOOK 

which  it  is  needless  to  repeat,  we  see  the  particularities  which 
occasioned  their  discovery ;  we  see  the  distinction  between  "  the 
Auditors  and  the  Elect,"  a  certain  character  of  Manicheism 
specified  by  St.  Austin  ;  we  there  see  that  they  had  their  Pope, 
a  truth  which  afterwards  became  more  manifest ;  and  in  fine, 
that  they  boasted,  "  their  doctrine  had  a  continued  succession 
down  to  us,  but  hidden  ever  since  the  time  of  the  martyrs,  and 
after  that  in  Greece,  and  in  some  other  countries  ;  which  is  very 
true,  since  it  came  from  Marcion  and  Manes,  heresiarchs  of  the 
third  century ;  and  thereby  it  is  apparent  in  whose  shop  was 
first  vended  this  method  of  maintaining  the  Church's  perpetuity, 
by  a  hidden  series,  and  doctors  scattered  here  and  there  without 
any  manifest  and  legitimate  succession. 

34. — These  Heretics  interrogated  before  all  the  people. 

But,  lest  it  should  be  said  the  doctrine  of  these  heretics  was, 
perchance,  calumniated  for  want  of  being  well  understood,  it 
appears,  as  well  by  Enervin's  letter  as  by  Ecbert's  sermons,* 
that  the  examination  of  these  heretics  was  made  in  public  ;  and 
that  it  was  one  of  their  bishops,  with  a  companion  of  his,  who 
defended  their  doctrine  to  their  utmost,  in  the  presence  of  the 
archbishop,  the  whole  clergy,  and  all  the  people. 

35. — The  tenets  of  these  Heretics  refuted  by  St.  Bernard,  who  was  well  ac- 
quainted icith  them  at  Toulouse. 

St.  Bernard,  whom  the  pious  Enervin  excited  to  confute  these 
heretics,  then  composed  the  two  fine  sermons  on  the  Canticles, 
in  \^4lich  he  so  vigorously  impugned  the  heretics  of  his  time. 
They  carry  so  manifest  a  relation  to  Enervin's  letter,  that  it  is 
plain  this  gave  occasion  to  them ;  but  it  is  no  less  plain  by  St. 
Bernard's  firm  and  positive  way  of  speaking,  that  he  had  also 
other  informations,  and  knew  more  of  the  matter  than  Enervin 
himself.  And,  indeed,  it  was  now  above  twenty  years  since 
Peter  de  Bruis  and  his  disciple  Henry  had  secretly  spread  their 
errors  in  Dauphiny,  in  Provence,  and  especially  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Toulouse.  St.  Bernard  took  a  journey  into  that 
country  expressly  to  root  up  this  bad  seed,  and  the  miracles  he 
there  wrought  in  confirmation  of  the  Catholic  truth  are  more 
conspicuous  than  the  sun.  But  the  material  point  to  be  ob- 
served is,  that  he  spared  no  pains  to  inform  himself  fully  con- 
cerning a  heresy  he  was  going  to  oppose ;  and  after  frequent 
conferences  with  the  disciples  of  these  heretics,  he  could  not  be 
ignorant  of  their  doctrine.  Now  he  distinctly  instances,  together 
with  their  condemnation  "  of  infant  baptism,"!"  the  invocation  of 
saints,  the  oblations  for  the  dead,"  that  of  *'  the  use  of  marriage, 
and  of  all  that  proceeded,"  far  or  near,  "  from  the  union  of  both 

*  Enervdn,  Ep.  ad  S.  Bern.  Anal.  iii.  p.  453;  Ecb.  Serm.  i.      f  Serm.  Ixvi. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  63 

sexes,  as  flesh  and  white  meats."*  He  taxes  them  Hkewise 
with  not  admitting  the  Old  Testament,  and  their  receiving  the 
Gospel  only.  Another,  also,  of  their  errors  remarked  by  St. 
Bernard  wasr,!  that  a  sinner  ceased  to  be  a  bishop,  and  that  the 
popes,  the  archbishops,  the  bishops,  and  priests,  were  neither 
capable  of  giving  nor  receiving  the  sacraments,  by  reason  they 
were  sinners.  But  what  he  most  insists  on,  is  their  hypocrisy, 
not  only  in  the  deceitful  appearance  of  their  austere  and  peni- 
tential life,  but  also  in  the  custom  they  constantly  observed  of 
receiving  the  sacraments  with  us,  and  professing  our  doctrine 
publicly,  which  they  inveighed  against  in  secret.  J  St.  Bernard 
shows  their  piety  was  all  dissimulation.  In  appearance  they 
blamed  commerce  with  women,  and  nevertheless  were  all  seen 
to  pass  days  and  nights  apart  with  them.  The  profession  they 
made  of  abhorring  the  sex,  seemed  to  warrant  their  not  abusing 
it.  They  believed  all  oaths  forbidden,  yet,  examined  concerning 
their  faith,  did  not  stick  at  perjury ;  such  oddness  and  incon- 
stancy is  there  in  extravagant  minds  !§  From  all  these  things 
St.  Bernard  concluded  this  was  "  the  mystery  of  iniquity"  fore- 
told by  St.  Paul,[|  so  much  the  more  to  be  feared  in  proportion 
as  it  was  more  hidden ;  and  that  these  were  they  whom  the 
Holy  Ghost  made  known  to  the  same  apostle,  as  "  giving  heed 
to  seducing  spirits  and  doctrines  of  devils,  speaking  hes  in  hy- 
pocrisy, having  their  conscience  seared  with  a  hot  iron,  forbid- 
ding to  marry,  and  commanding  to  abstain  from  meats  which 
God  has  created."l[  All  the  characters  agree  too  clearly  with 
them  to  need  insisting  on.  Behold  here  the  fine  ancestors  whom 
the  Calvinists  have  selected  for  themselves  ! 
36. — Peter  de  Bruis  and  Henry. 
To  say  that  these  heretics  of  Toulouse,  of  whom  St.  Bernard 
speaks,  are  not  the  same  with  those  vulgarly  called  Albigenses, 
were  too  gross  a  fallacy.  The  ministers  are  agreed  that  Peter 
de  Bruis  and  Henry  are  two  chiefs  of  this  sect,  and  that  Peter, 
the  venerable  Abbot  of  Cluny,  their  contemporary,  of  whom  we 
shall  soon  speak,  attacked  the  "  Albigenses  under  the  name  of 
Petrobusians."**  If  the  chiefs  are  convicted  of  Manicheism, 
the  disciples  have  not  degenerated  from  this  doctrine,  and  these 
bad  trees  may  be  judged  of  by  their  fruit ;  for  although  it  be 
certain,  from  St.  Bernard's  letters,  and  from  the  authors  then 
living,  that  he  converted  many  of  these  Toulousian  heretics,  the 
disciples  of  Peter  de  Bruis  and  Henry,  yet  the  race  was  not 
extinguished,  which  the  more  private  it  kept  itself  the  more 
proselytes  it  gained. If     They  were  called  "  the  good  men" 

*  Serm.  Ixv.         f  Serm.  Ixvi.      f  Serm.  Ixv.       §  Ibid.       ||  2  Thess.  ii.  7. 
IF  Serm.  Ixvi.    1  Tim.  iv.  ],  2,  3.  **  La  Roq.  Hist,  de  I'Euch.,  pp. 

452,  453.  ft  Ep.  241,  ad  Tol.  Vit.  S.  Bern.  Ub.  iii.  c.  5. 


64  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

from  their  apparent  meekness  and  simplicity ;  but  their  doctrine 
became  manifest  in  an  interrogatory  many  of  them  underwent 
at  Lombez,  a  little  town  near  Alby,  in  a  council  held  there 
in  1176.* 

37. — The  Council  of  Lombez. — Famous  examination  of  these  Heretics. 
Gaucelin,  Bishop  of  Lodeve,  equally  well  acquainted  with 
their  artifices  and  with  sound  doctrine,  was  there  commissioned 
to  examine  them  concerning  their  faith.  They  shuffle  in  many 
articles ;  they  lie  in  others ;  but  own  in  express  terms,  that 
"  They  reject  the  Old  Testament ;  that  they  believe  the  conse- 
cration of  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  equally  good 
whether  made  by  laymen  or  clergy,  if  good  men  ;  that  all  swear- 
ing is  unlawful ;  and  that  bishops  and  priests,  devoid  of  the 
qualities  prescribed  by  St.  Paul,  are  neither  bishops  nor  priests." 
They  never  could  be  brought,  whatever  was  said,  to  approve  of 
marriage,  nor  infant  baptism ;  and  the  obstinate  refusal  to  ac- 
knowledge such  certain  truths,  was  taken  for  a  confession  of 
their  error.  They  were  condemned  also  from  the  Scripture 
as  men  that  refused  to  confess  their  faith  ;  and,  on  all  the  points 
proposed,  were  hard  pressed  by  Ponce,  Archbishop  of  Narbonne, 
by  Arnold,  Bishop  of  Nismes,  by  the  abbots,  and  especially  by 
Gaucelin,  Bishop  of  Lodeve,  whom  Gerald,  Bishop  of  Alby, 
there  present,  and  ordinary  of  Lombez,  before  the  place  was 
erected  into  a  bishopric,  had  vested  with  his  authority.  I  do 
not  think  there  can  be  seen,  in  any  council,  either  a  more  regu- 
lar procedure,  or  Scripture  better  employed,  or  a  dispute  more 
precise  and  convincing.  Let  men  come  and  tell  us  after  this, 
that  what  is  said  of  the  Albigenses  is  all  mere  calumny. 

38. — Histonj  of  the  same  Council  by  a  contemporai-y  Author. 
An  historian  of  those  times  recites  at  length  this  council,  and 
gives  a  faithful  abridgment  of  more  ample  acts  which  have  been 
since  recovered,  "j"  He  begins  his  account  thus  :  "  There  were 
heretics  in  the  province  of  Toulouse,  who  would  have  them- 
selves be  called  good  men,  and  were  maintained  by  the  soldiers 
of  Lombez.  Those  said,  they  neither  received  the  law  of  Moses, 
nor  the  Prophets,  nor  the  Psalms,  nor  the  Old  Testament,  nor 
the  Doctors  of  the  New,  except  the  Gospels,  St.  Paul's  Epis- 
tles, the  seven  canonical  Epistles,  the  Acts,  and  Revelations.'* 
Setting  all  the  rest  aside,  here  is  enough  to  make  our  Protes- 
tants blush  for  the  errors  of  their  ancestors.  ^ 

39. — Why  these  Heretics  are  called  Arians. 
But  in  order  to  raise  a  suspicion  of  some  calumny  in  the  pro- 
ceedings against  them,  they  observe,  they  were  not  called  Mani- 

*  Act.  Oonc.  Lumb.  t.  x.  Cone.  Lab.  An.  1176. 
f  Roger.  Hoved.  in  Annal.  Angl. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  65 

cheans  but  Arians  ;  yet  the  Manicheans  were  never  accused  of 
Arianism ;  a  mistake,  say  they,  which  Baronius  himself  has 
owned.*  What  a  feint  this  is,  to  cavil  about  the  title  men  give 
a  heresy,  when  they  see  it  specified,  not  to  mention  other  marks, 
by  that  of  rejecting  the  Old  Testament !  But  we  must  also  show 
these  contentious  spirits,  what  reason  there  was  to  accuse  the 
Manicheans  of  Arianism.  It  was  because,  as  Peter  of  Sicily 
expressly  tells  us,  "  They  professed  the  Trinity  in  words,  but 
denied  it  in  their  hearts,  and  turned  the  mystery  into  impertinent 
allegories,  "f 

40. — The  sentiments  of  the  Manicheans  concerning  the  Trinity,  from  St.  Austin, 
This  is  likewise  what  St.  Austin  fully  informs  us  of.  Faustus, 
bishop  of  the  Manicheans,  had  written :  "  We  confess  under 
three  names  one  only  and  the  same  Divinity  of  God  the  Father 
Almighty,  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."J 
But  then  he  further  adds,  "  that  the  Father  dwelt  in  the  prin- 
cipal and  sovereign  light  called  by  St.  Paul  inaccessible.  As 
for  the  Son,  he  resided  in  the  second  light,  which  is  visible ; 
and  being  twofold,  according  to  the  Apostle  who  speaks  of  the 
power  and  wisdom  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  power  resided  in  the  sun, 
and  his  wisdom  in  the  moon  ;  and  finally,  in  regard  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  his  habitation  was  in  our  ambient  air."§  This  is  what 
Fastus  said :  whereby  St.  Austin  convicts  him  of  separating 
the  Son  from  the  Father  even  by  corporeal  spaces ;  nay,  of 
separating  him  from  himself,  and  of  separating  the  Holy  Ghost 
from  them  both  ;  to  situate  them  also,  as  did  Faustus,  in  places 
so  unequal,  was  placing  between  the  divine  persons  a  too  mani- 
fest inequality.  Such  were  these  allegories  fraught  with  igno- 
rance, by  which  Peter  of  Sicily  convicted  the  Manicheans  of 
denying  the  Trinity.  Such  an  explanation  as  this  was  far  from 
a  confession  of  it ;  but,  as  St.  Austin  says,  "  was  squaring  the 
belief  of  the  Trinity  by  the  rule  of  his  own  conceits."  An  au- 
thor of  the  twelfth  century,  contemporary  with  St.  Bernard, || 
acquaints  us  that  these  heretics  declined  saying, "  Gloria  Patri ;" 
and  Renier  states  it  expressly  that  the  Cathari  or  Albigenses  did 
not  believe  that  the  Trinity  was  one  only  God,  but  believed  that 
the  Father  was  greater  than  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  IT  No 
wonder  then  that  the  Catholics  have  sometimes  ranked  the  Mani- 
cheans with  those  that  denied  the  blessed  Trinity,  and,  on  this 
consideration,  given  them  the  name  of  Arians. 

41. — Manicheans  at  Soissons. — The  Testimony  of  Guy  ofj^ogent. 
To  return  to  the  Manicheism  of  these  heretics  :  Guy  of  No- 
gent,**  a  celebrated  author  of  the  twelfth  age,  and  more  ancient 

*  La  Roq.  ib.  Bar.  t.  xii.  An.  1176,  p.  674.  t  Pet.  Sic.  ibid. 

I  Faust  ap.  Aug.  lib.  xx.  cont.      §  Ibid,  c  7.      ||  Herib.  Mon.  Ep.  Annal.  iii. 

II  Ren.  cont.  Wald.  c.  6,  t.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  p.  759.       ♦  *  Do  vita  sua,  lib.  iii.  c.  16. 

VOL.    II.  6* 


Q6  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

than  St.  Bernard,  shows  us  heretics  near  Solssons  that  made  a 
phantom  of  the  incarnation  ;  that  rejected  infant  baptism  ;  that 
held  in  abhorrence  the  mysteiy  wrought  at  the  Altar  ;  yet  took 
the  sacraments  with  us ;  that  rejected  all  manner  of  flesh,  and 
whatsoever  proceeds  from  the  union  of  both  sexes.  They  made, 
after  the  example  of  those  heretics  above  seen  at  Orleans,  a 
Eucharist  and  sacrifice  not  fit  to  be  described ;  and,  to  show 
themselves  completely  like  the  other  Manicheans,  "  they  con- 
cealed themselves  hke  them,  and  mixed  clandestinely  amongst 
us,"  confessing  and  swearing  any  thing,  to  save  themselves  from 
punishment.* 
42. — Testimony  of  Radulphus  Aniens  cmicerning  the  Heretics  of  the  .^genois. 

Let  us  add  to  these  witnesses  Radulphus  Ardens,  a  renowned 
author  of  the  eleventh  age,  in  the  description  he  gives  us  of  the 
heretics  of  the  Agenois,  who  "  boast  of  leading  the  life  of  the 
Apostles  ;  who  say,  they  do  not  lie,  they  do  not  swear ;  who 
condemn  the  use  of  flesh  and  marriage ;  who  reject  the  Old 
Testament,  and  receive  a  part  only  of  the  New ;  and,  what  is 
more  terrible,  admit  tAvo  Creators  ;  who  say,  the  Sacrament  of 
the  Altar  is  nothing  but  mere  bread  ;  who  despise  baptism  and 
the  resurrection  of  bodies. "|  Are  not  these  Manicheans  in  their 
proper  colors  ?  Now  we  descry  no  other  characteristics  in  them 
than  in  those  of  Toulouse  and  Alby,  whose  sect,  we  have  seen, 
extended  itself  into  Gascony  and  the  adjacent  provinces.  Agen 
also  had  its  particular  doctors  :  but,  be  that  as  it  will,  the  same 
spirit  is  discernible  every  where,  and  all  is  of  the  same  stamp. 
43. — The  same  Heretics  in  England. 

Thirty  of  these  heretics  of  Gascony  took  shelter  in  England 
in  the  year  1160.  They  were  called  Poplicans  or  Publicans. 
But  let  us  see  what  was  their  doctrine  from  Gulielmus  Neo- 
bridgensis,  an  historian  near  to  those  times,  whose  testimony 
Spelman,  a  Protestant  author,  has  inserted  in  the  second  volume 
of  his  English  Councils.  J  "  These  heretics,"  says  he,  "  were 
brought  before  the  council  held  at  Oxford.  Girard,  the  only 
person  of  any  learning,  answered  well  as  to  the  substance  of 
the  heavenly  physician  :  but  proceeding  to  the  remedies  he  had 
left  us,  they  spoke  very  ill,  abhorring  baptism,  the  Eucharist  and 
marriage,  and  despising  Catholic  unity."  Protestants  put  in  the 
catalogue  of  their  ancestors  these  Gascoign  heretics,  for  speak- 
ing ill  (in  the  sentiment  of  the  English  nation,  then  believing 
the  Real  Presence)  of  the  Eucharistic  sacrament. §  But  they 
ought  to  have  considered,  that  these  Poplicans  stand  accused, 
not  of  denying  the  Real  Presence,  but  of  abhorring  the  Eucha- 

*  De  vita  sua,  lib.  iii.c.  16.  f  Rodul.  Ard.  Serm.  in  Dom.  viii.postTrin.  t.ii. 
I  Gul.  Nes.  Rer.  Ang.  lib.  ii.  c.  13.  Cone.  Oxou.  t.  ii.  Cone.  Ang.  Cone. 
Lab.  t.  X.  An.  1160.  §  La  Roq.  Hist,  de  I'Euch.  c.  xviii.  p.  460. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  67 

rist,  no  less  than  baptism  and  marriage, — three  visible  charac- 
teristics of  Manicheism :  nor  do  I  hold  these  heretics  wholly 
justified  as  to  the  other  points,  under  pretext  that  they  did  not 
answer  amiss  ;  for  we  have  seen  too  much  of  the  wiles  of  these 
people  ;  and  at  best  they  would  not  the  less  be  Manicheans  for 
mitigating  some  few  errors  of  this  sect. 

44. — That  the  Poplicans,  or  Publicans^  are  Manicheans. 
Even  the  name  of  Publicans  or  Poplicans  was  a  name  of  the 
Manicheans,  as  is  manifestly  seen  from  the  testimony  of  William 
le  Breton.  This  author,  in  the  life  of  Philip  Augustus,  dedicated 
to  his  eldest  son  Lewis,  speaking  of  these  heretics,  vulgarly 
called  Poplicans,  says,  "  that  they  rejected  marriage  ;  accounted 
it  a  crime  to  eat  flesh  ;  and  had  other  superstitions  specified  by 
St.  Paul  in  a  few  words  :  viz.,  in  the  first  to  Timothy."* 

45. — The  ministers  make  the  Vaudois  Manicheans,  in  making  them  Poplicans. 
Our  Reformed  nevertheless  think  they  do  an  honor  to  the 
disciples  of  Waldo  by  ranking  them  amongst  the  Poplicans. 
There  needed  no  more  to  condemn  the  Vaudois.  But  I  shall 
take  no  advantage  from  this  mistake  :  I  shall  leave  to  the  Vau- 
dois their  particular  heresies,  it  being  enough  for  me  here  to 
have  shown  the  Poplicans  convicted  of  Manicheism.  "f 

46. — The  Manicheans  of  Ermengard. 
I  own,  with  the  Protestants,  that  Ermengard's  treatise  ought 
not  to  have  been  entitled,  "  against  the  Vaudois,"  as  it  was  by 
Gretser,  for  he  speaks  in  no  respect  concerning  these  heretics  ; 
but  the  fact  is,  in  Gretser's  time,  the  general  name  of  Vaudois 
was  given  to  all  sects  separate  from  Rome  ever  since  the  eleventh 
or  twelfth  century  down  to  Luther's  days  :  which  was  the  rea- 
son that  this  author,  publishing  divers  treatises  against  these 
sects,  gave  them  this  common  title,  "  against  the  Vaudois. "J 
Yet  he  did  not  omit  to  preserve  to  each  book  the  title  he  had 
found  in  the  manuscript.  Now  Ermengard  or  Ermengaud  had 
entitled  his  book  thus  :  "  A  treatise  against  these  Heretics,  who 
say  it  is  the  devil  and  not  God,  that  created  the  world  and  all 
things  visible."§  He  refutes  in  particular,  chapter  by  chapter, 
all  the  errors  of  these  heretics,  which  are  all  those  of  Manicheism 
so  frequently  noticed  by  us.  ||  If  they  speak  against  the  Eu- 
charist, they  speak  no  less  against  baptism  ;  if  they  reject  the 
worship  of  saints,  and  our  other  doctrinal  points,  they  do  no  less 
reject  the  creation,  the  incarnation,  the  law  of  Moses,  marriage, 
eating  of  flesh,  and  the  resurrection  ;  so  that  to  value  themselves 
on  the  authority  of  this  sect,  is  placing  their  glory  in  infamy  itself. 

*  Phil.  lib.  i.    Duch.  t.  v.  Hist,  France,  p.  102.         t  La  Roque,  p.  455. 
I  Aubert.  La  Roque.  §  Tom.  x.  Bib.  PP.  part.  i.  p.  1233. 

I!  Ibid.  cap.  xi.    Ibid.  xii.  Ibid.  xiii.  Ibid.  ci.  i.  ii.  iii.  vii.   Ibid.  v.  xv.  xvi. 


68  THE    HISTORY   OP  [bOOK 

47. — ^n  examination  of  the  ^Authors  loho  treat  of  the  Manicheans  and  Vaudois 

is  proceeded  to. 

I  pass  by  many  other  witnesses  which,  after  so  many  con- 
vincing proofs,  are  no  longer  necessary ;  but  some  there  are 
not  to  be  omitted,  for  this  reason,  that  they  insensibly  lead  us  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  Vaudois. 

48. — Proof  from  Manus  that  the  Heretics  of  Montpellier  are  Manicheans. 

In  the  first  place,  I  produce  Alanus,  a  famous  monk  of  the 
Cistercian  order,  and  one  of  the  first  authors  that  wrote  against 
the  Vaudois.  He  dedicated  a  treatise  against  the  heretics  of 
his  time  to  the  Count  of  MontpelUer,  his  lord,  and  divided  it 
into  two  books.  The  first  regards  the  heretics  of  his  country. 
To  them  he  ascribes  the  two  principles,  the  denial  of  Jesus 
Christ's  incarnation,  and  attributing  to  him  a  fantastical  body, 
and  all  the  other  points  of  Manicheism,  against  the  law  of  Moses, 
against  the  Resurrection,  against  the  use  of  Flesh,  and  Mar- 
riage ;*  to  which  he  adds  some  other  things  we  had  not  as  yet  seen 
in  the  Albigenses  ;  amongst  others,  the  damnation  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  for  having  doubted  of  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ, 
for  they  took  it  for  a  doubt,  in  his  holy  precursor,  what  he  caused 
his  disciples  to  say  to  our  Saviour,  "  Art  thou  he  that  should 
come  1"  a  most  extravagant  notion,  but  very  conformable  to 
what  Faustus,  the  Manichean,  writes,  as  St.  Austin  testifies. 
The  other  authors  who  wrote  against  these  new  Manicheans, 
unanimously  lay  the  same  error  to  their  charge. 

49. — The  same  author  distinguishes  the  Vaudois  from  the  Manicheans. 

In  the  second  part  of  his  work,  Alanus  treats  concerning  the 
Vaudois,  and  there  makes  a  list  of  their  errors,  which  we  shall 
see  in  due  place  ;  it  suffices  to  observe  here,  that  there  is  noth- 
ing amongst  them  savoring  of  Manicheism,  and  that  at  first 
sight,  these  two  heresies  are  quite  distinct. 

50. — Peter  of  Vaucernay  distinguishes  very  clearly  these  two  sects,  and  shoios 
the  Albigenses  are  Manicheans. 

That  of  Waldo  was  as  yet  a  novelty.  It  took  its  rise  at  Lyons, 
in  the  year  1160,  and  Alanus  wrote  in  1202,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  A  little  after,  and  about  the  year  1209, 
Peter  of  Vaucernay  compiled  his  history  of  the  Albigenses, 
where,  treating  on  the  difl'erent  sects  and  heresies  of  his  time, 
he  begins  with  the  Manicheans,  and  specifies  their  several  par- 
ties, Wherein  are  always  to  be  seen  some  characteristics  of  those 
above  observed  in  Manicheism,  although  in  some  strained  higher, 
and  in  others  more  tempered,  according  to  the  fancy  of  these 
heretics. I    Be  that  as  it  will,  the  whole  is  bottomed  on  Mani- 

*  Alan.  p.  31.  Mat.  xi.  3.  Lib.  v.  cont.  Faust,  c.  i.  Ebrard.  Antihser. 
c.  xiii.  t.  vi.     Bib.  PP.  1332.     Ermeng.  c.  vi.  ibid.  1339,  &c. 

t  Hist.  Albi.  Pet.  Mon.  Val-Cern.  cap.  ii.  t.  v.    Hist.  Franc.  Duchcsn. 


XI.]  THE   VARIATIONS,    ETC.  69 

cheism,  and  this  is  the  pecuUar  characteristic  of  that  heresy 
which  Vaucernay  represents  to  us  in  the  province  of  Narbonne, 
namely,  the  heresy  of  the  Albigenses,  whose  history  he  under- 
takes. Nothing  like  this  does  he  attribute  to  the  other  heretics 
of  whom  he  treats.  "  There  were,"  says  he,  "  other  heretics, 
called  Vaudois,  from  a  certain  Waldius  of  Lyons.  These  doubt- 
less were  bad,  but  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  first."  Then 
he  observes,  in  a  few  words,  four  of  their  capital  errors,  and  im- 
mediately after  returns  to  his  Albigenses.  But  these  errors  of 
the  Vaudois  are  far  remote  from  Manicheism,  as  will  soon  ap- 
pear ;  here,  then,  we  have  again  the  Albigenses  and  Yaudois, 
two  sects  thoroughly  distinct,  and  the  last  clear  from  any  char- 
acter of  Manicheism. 

51. — Peter  of  Vaucernay  in  his  plain  way  has  loell  specified  the  characteristics 

of  the  Manicheans. 

The  Protestants  will  have  it  that  Peter  of  Vaucernay  spoke 
of  the  Albigensian  heresy  without  well  knowing  what  he  said,  on 
account  of  his  charging  them  with  blasphemies  which  are  not  to 
be  found  even  in  the  Manicheans.  But  who  can  answer  for  all 
the  secrets  and  new  inventions  of  this  abominable  sect?  What 
Peter  of  Vaucernay  makes  them  speak  regarding  the  two  Jesuses, 
whereof  one  was  born  in  the  visible  and  terrestrial  Bethlehem, 
the  other  in  the  celestial  and  invisible,  is  much  of  a  piece  with 
the  other  extravagances  of  the  Manicheans.  This  invisible  Beth- 
lehem does  not  ill  suit  with  the  supernatural  Jerusalem,  which 
Peter  of  Sicily's  Paulicians  called  the  mother  of  God,  whence 
Jesus  Christ  proceeded.*  Say  what  they  will  of  the  visible 
Jesus,  that  he  was  not  the  true  Christ,  that  he  was  accounted 
evil  by  these  heretics,  I  see  nothing  in  all  that  more  extravagant 
than  the  other  blasphemies  of  the  Manicheans.  We  meet  in 
Renier  with  heretics  holding  something  of  the  principles  of  the 
Manicheans,  and  acknowledging  a  Christ,  son  of  Joseph  and 
Mary,  evil  at  first  and  a  sinner,  but  afterwards  turned  good,  and 
the  restorer  of  their  sect."!"  Certain  it  is  these  Manichean  her- 
etics were  much  addicted  to  change.  Renier,  one  of  their  num- 
ber, distinguishes  the  new  from  the  ancient  opinions,  and  observes 
many  novelties  to  have  arisen  amongs  them  in  his  time,  and 
since  the  year  1230.  J  Ignorance  and  extravagance  seldom 
hold  long  in  the  same  state,  and  know  no  bounds  in  man.  How- 
ever it  be,  if  hatred  conceived  against  the  Albigenses  made  men 
charge  them  with  Manicheism,  or,  if  you  please,  something  worse 
than  hatred  ;  whence  proceeds  that  care  they  took  to  excuse  the 
Vaudois,  since  it  cannot  be  supposed  they  were  better  loved  than 
those,  or  less  declared  enemies  to  the  Church  of  Rome  ]     Yet 

+  Petr.  Sic4  f  I^en.  cont.  Wald.  c.  vi.  t.  iv.  part  ii.  Bib.  PP.  p.  753. 

X  Ibid.  759. 


70  THE    HISTORY    OP  [BOOK 

we  have  already  two  authors  very  zealous  for  the  Catholic  doc- 
trine, and  very  averse  to  the  Vaudois,  who  carefully  distinguish 
them  from  the  Manichean  Albigenses. 

52. — Distinction  of  the  two  sects  by  Ebrard  of  Bethune. 

Here  is  also  a  third  not  less  considerable.  It  is  Ebrard, 
native  of  Bethune,  whose  book,  entitled  "  Anti-heresy,"  was 
composed  against  the  heretics  of  Flanders.*  These  heretics 
were  called  Piples  or  Piphles,  in  the  language  of  that  country. 
A  Protestant  author  does  not  conjecture  ill,  imagining  this  word 
Piphles  to  be  a  corruption  from  that  of  Pophcans  ;  and  thence 
it  may  be  known  that  these  Flemish  heretics,  like  the  Poplicans, 
were  perfect  Manicheans,  nevertheless  good  Protestants,  if  we 
believe  the  Calvinists,  and  worthy  to  be  their  ancestors.  But 
not  to  dwell  on  the  other  name,  we  need  but  give  ear  to  Ebrard, 
an  author  of  that  country,  in  his  description  of  these  heretics. 
The  first  characteristic  which  he  gives  them  is,  that  they  re- 
jected the  Law,  and  the  God  that  gave  it ;  the  rest  is  of  the 
same  stamp,  they  not  only  despising  marriage,  but  the  use  of 
flesh  meat,  and  the  sacraments. | 

53. — The  Vaudois  loell  distinguished  from  the  Manicheans. 

After  methodically  digesting  all  he  had  to  say  against  this 
sect,  he  proceeds  to  speak  against  that  of  the  Vaudois,  which 
he  distinguishes,  like  the  rest,  from  that  of  the  new  Manicheans  ; 
and  this  is  the  third  witness  we  have  to  produce.  J  But  here  is 
a  fourth,  of  greater  importance  in  this  fact  than  all  the  rest. 

54. — Testimony  of  Renier,  who  had  been  of  the  sect  of  Manicheans,  in  Italy, 

seventeen  years. 

It  is  Renier,  of  the  order  of  Dominican  friars,  from  whom  we 
have  already  cited  some  passages.  He  wrote  about  the  year 
1250,  or  '54,  and  the  title  he  gave  his  book  was,  "  De  Hsereticis," 
"  of  Heretics,"  as  he  testifies  in  his  preface.  He  styles  himself 
"  Brother  Renier,  formerly  an  Heresiarch,  and  now  a  priest," 
on  account  of  his  having  been  seventeen  years  among  the  Ca- 
thari,  as  he  twice  acknowledges.  §  This  author  is  well  known 
among  the  Protestants,  who  never  cease  boasting  the  fine  de- 
scription he  has  given  of  the  manners  of  the  Vaudois.  He  is 
the  more  to  be  credited  on  the  occasion,  as  he  tells  us  both  good 
and  bad  with  so  grer.t  sincerity.  Now  it  cannot  be  alleged  he 
had  not  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  several  sects  of  his  time. 
He  had  been  frequently  present  at  the  examination  of  heretics, 
and  there  it  was  that  the  minutest  differences  were  most  nar- 
rowly scanned  of  so  many  obscure  and  cunning  sects,  where- 
with Christendom,  at  that  time,  was  overrun.     Many  of  them 

+  Bib.  PP.  p.  1075.    Pet  de  Val-cern.    Ibid.  c.  ii.    La  Roq.  p.  454. 
t  Ibid.  c.  i.  ii.  iii.  et  seq.      J  Cap.  25.      §  Ren.  cont.  Wal.  t.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  part 
u.  p.  746.  Pref.  Ibid.  pp.  746,  756,  757.  Ibid.  c.  vii.  p.  765.  Ibid.  c.  iii.  p.  748. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  71 

were  converted,  and  disclosed  all  the  mysteries  of  the  sect, 
which  had  been  so  carefully  concealed.  A  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  distemper  is  half  the  cure.  Over  and  above  this,  Renier 
applied  his  study  to  the  reading  of  heretical  books,  as  of  that 
great  volume  of  John  of  Lyons,*  a  leading  man  amongst  the 
new  Manicheans,  and  from  thence  extracted  the  articles  of  his 
doctrine  which  he  reports.  No  wonder,  then,  this  author  has 
given  us  a  more  exact  account  than  any  other,  of  the  differences 
in  his  contemporary  sects. 

55. — He  distinguishes  them  very  clearly  from  the  Vaudois. — The  Characteristics 
of  Manicheism  in  the  Cathari. 

The  first  he  instances  in  is  that  of  the  "  poor  men"  of  Lyons, 
descended  from  Peter  Waldo,  all  whose  dogmas  he  sets  down 
even  to  the  nicest  minutiae.  All  therein  is  far  remote  from 
Manicheism,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter.  Thence  he  proceeds 
to  the  other  sects  of  the  Manichean  race ;  and  comes  at  length 
to  the  Cathari,  whose  secrets  he  was  entirely  acquainted  with  ;| 
for  besides  his  having  been,  as  already  observed,  seventeen  years 
amongst  them,  and  thoroughly  initiated  in  the  sect,  he  had  heard 
their  greatest  doctors  preach,  and  amongst  others,  one  called 
Nazarius,  the  most  ancient  of  them  all,  who  boasted  of  having 
been  formed,  sixty  years  before,  under  the  discipline  of  the  two 
chief  pastors  of  the  Bulgarian  Church.  However,  observe  this 
extraction  always  from  Bulgaria.  It  was  from  thence  the  Ca- 
thari of  Italy,  amongst  whom  Renier  dwelt,  derived  their  au- 
thority ;  and  as  he  had  been  conversant  amongst  them  so  many 
years,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  he  has  explained  more 
accurately,  and  more  minutely,  their  errors,  their  sacraments, 
their  ceremonies,  the  different  parties  formed  amongst  them, 
with  the  affinities  as  well  as  the  diversities  of  one  from  the  other. 
In  him,  every  where  are  to  be  seen  very  clearly  the  principles, 
the  impieties,  and  the  whole  spirit  of  Manicheism.  The  dis- 
tinction of  the  Elect  and  Auditors,  a  particular  characteristic  of 
the  sect,  frequent  in  St.  Austin  and  other  authors,  is  found  here 
distinguished  under  another  name.  We  learn  from  Renier,  that 
these  heretics,  besides  the  Cathari  or  Pure,  the  most  consum- 
mate of  the  sect,  had  also  another  class  which  they  called  "  their 
Behevers,"  made  up  of  all  sorts  of  people.  J  These  were  not 
admitted  to  all  the  mysteries  ;  and  the  same  Renier  relates  that 
the  number  of  the  perfect  Cathari,  in  his  time,  when  the  sect 
was  weakened,  "  did  not  exceed  four  thousand  in  all  Christen- 
dom ;"  but  "that  the  believers  were  innumerable ;  a  computation,'* 
says  he, "  which  several  times  has  been  made  amongst  them."§ 

*  Ren.  Ibid.  c.  vi.  pp.  762,  763.  f  Ibid,  c  v.  p.  749,  et  seq.  Ibid.  c.  vl 

pp.  753,  754,  755,  756.  %  Ibid.  p.  756.  §  Ibid.  p.  759. 


72  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

56. — A  remarkable  list  of  the  Manichean  Churches. — TheMbigenses  comprised 
in  it. — All  of  them  descended  from  Bulgaria. 

Amongst  the  Sacraments  of  these  heretics,  their  imposition 
of  hands,  in  order  to  remit  sins,  is  chiefly  to  be  observed  ;  they 
called  it  consolation ;  it  served  both  instead  of  baptism  and 
penance.  You  see  it  in  the  above  Council  of  Orleans,  in 
Ecbert,  in  Enervin,  and  in  Ermengard.  Renier  gives  the  best 
account  of  it,  as  an  adept  in  the  mysteries  of  the  sect.*  But 
the  most  remarkable  thing  in  Renier's  book  is  the  exact  list  of 
the  Churches  of  the  Cathari,  and  his  account  of  the  state  they 
were  in  at  his  time.  They  counted  sixteen  in  all,  and  amongst 
the  rest  he  reckons  the  Church  of  France,  the  Church  of  Tou- 
louse, the  Church  of  Cahors,  the  Church  of  Alby,  and  in  fine, 
the  Church  of  Bulgaria,  and  the  Church  of  Drunganicia, 
"  whence,"  says  he,  "sprung  all  the  rest."  This  considered,  I 
see  not  how  the  Manicheism  of  the  Albigenses  can  be  called  in 
question,  nor  their  descent  from  the  Manicheans  of  Bulgaria. 
The  reader  has  but  to  call  to  mind  the  two  orders  of  Bulgaria 
and  Drungaria,  mentioned  by  Vignier's  author,  and  which  united 
themselves  in  Lombardy.  I  repeat  once  more  that  there  is  no 
necessity  of  searching  what  this  Drungaria  can  be.  These 
obscure  heretics  often  took  their  name  from  unknown  places. 
Renier  tells  us  of  Runcarians,  a  Manichean  sect  of  his  time, 
whose  name  was  taken  from  a  village. "j"  Who  knows  but  this 
word,  Runcarians,  was  a  corruption  of  Druncarians  ? 

We  find  in  the  same  author,  and  elsewhere,  so  many  different 
names  of  these  heretics,  that  it  were  labor  lost  to  inquire  into 
their  origin.  Patarians,  Poplicans,  Toulousians,  Albigenses, 
Cathari,  were,  under  different  names,  and  often  with  some  diver- 
sity in  sect,  Manicheans,  all  of  Bulgarian  descent ;  whence  also 
they  took  the  name  most  in  use  among  the  vulgar. 

57. — Tlie  same  origin  proved  from  Mattheio  Paris. — The  Pope  of  the  Albi- 
genses in  Bulgaria. 

So  certain  is  this  origin,  that  we  find  it  acknowledged  even 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  *'  At  this  time,"  says  Matthew  Paris, 
(viz.  in  the  year  1223,)  "  the  Albigensian  heretics  made  them- 
selves an  Antipope,  called  Bartholomew,  in  the  confines  of  Bul- 
garia, Croatia,  and  Dalmatia."J  It  appears  afterwards,  that  the 
Albigenses  went  in  crowds  to  consult  him  ;  that  he  had  a  vicar 
at  Carcassonne  and  Toulouse,  and  despatched  his  Bishops  far 
and  near ;  which  comes  up  manifestly  to  what  was  said  by 
Enervin,  that  these  heretics  had  their  Pope  ;  although  the  same 
author  informs  us  that  all  did  not  own  him.     And  that  no  doubt 

*  T.  ix.  Cone.  Ecb.  Ron.  c.  xiv.  t.  vi.  Bib.  PP.  part  1.  p.  1254.  Ibid.  759. 
t  Ren.  c.  xiv.  pp.  753,  756.  J  Mat.  Paris  in  Henr.  Ill,  An.  1223,  p. 

317.  Ep.  Enerv.  ad  S.  Bernard.  Anal.  MabiU.  iii.  Ibid.  1234.  An.  p.  395. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  73 

might  remain  as  to  the  eiTor  of  the  Albigenses,  mentioned  by 
Matthew  Paris  ;  the  same  author  assures  us,  "  the  Albigenses 
of  Spain,"  that  took  up  arms  in  1234,  amongst  many  other 
errors,  "  particularly  denied  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation." 

58. — The  great  hypocrisy  of  these  Heretics  from  Enet^in. 
Notwithstanding  such  great  impieties,  the  outward  appearance 
of  these  heretics  was  surprismg.  Enervin  introduces  them, 
speaking  in  these  terms  : — "  You,  for  your  part,"  said  they  to 
the  Catholics,  "join  house  to  house,  and  field  to  field  :  the  most 
perfect  amongst  you,  as  the  monks  and  canons  regular,  if  they 
possess  no  goods  in  property,  have  them  at  least  in  common. 
We,  the  poor  of  Jesus  Christ,  without  repose,  without  settled 
habitations,  wander  from  town  to  town  like  sheep  in  the  midst 
of  wolves,  andi  suffer  persecution  like  the  martyrs  and  apostles."* 
They  boasted  next  of  their  abstinence,  their  fasts,  the  narrow 
w^ay  they  walked  in,  and  called  themselves  the  only  followers 
of  the  apostolic  life,  for  that,  contented  with  necessaries,  they 
had  neither  house,  nor  land,  nor  riches,  "  for  this  reason,"  said 
they,  "  because  Jesus  Christ  neither  had,  nor  possessed  the 
like  things,  nor  suffered  his  disciples  to  possess  them." 

59. — And  from  St.  Bernard. — Coniformity  of  their  discourse  with  that  ofFaustus 
the  Manichean,  in  St.  Austin. 

According  to  St.  Bernard,  there  was  "  nothing  more  Chris- 
tian in  appearance"  than  their  speech,  nothing  more  blameless 
than  their  manners.  Therefore  they  called  themselves  the  Apos- 
tohc,  and  boasted  of  leading  the  lives  of  the  apostles.  Methinks, 
I  hear  over  again  Faustus  the  Manichean,  who,  in  St.  Austin, 
thus  speaks  to  Catholics  : — "  You  ask  me  whether  I  receive 
the  gospel  1  you  see  I  do,  inasmuch  as  I  observe  what  the  gos- 
pel prescribes  :  of  you  I  ought  to  ask  whether  you  receive  it, 
since  I  see  no  mark  of  it  in  your  lives.  For  my  part,  I  have 
forsaken  father,  mother,  wife  and  children,  gold,  silver,  meat, 
drink,  delights,  pleasures ;  content  with  having  what  is  suffi- 
cient for  life  from  day  to  day.  I  am  poor,  I  am  peaceable,  I 
weep,  I  suffer  hunger  and  thirst,  I  am  persecuted  for  justice 
sake,  and  do  you  question  whether  I  receive  the  gospel?" j*  Af- 
ter this,  must  persecutions  be  still  taken  for  a  mark  of  the  true 
Church  and  true  piety  ?  it  is  the  language  of  Manicheans. 
60. — Their  hypocrisy  confounded  by  St.  Austin  and  St.  Bernard. 

But  St.  Austin  and  St.  Bernard  show  them  that  their  virtue 
was  nothing  but  vain  ostentation.  To  carry  the  abstinence 
from  meats  so  far  as  to  say  that  they  are  unclean  and  evil  in 
their  nature,  and  continence,  even  to  the  condemnation  of  mar- 
riage, is,  on  the  one  hand,  to  attack  the  Creator,  and  on  the 

*  Enervin,  Anal.  iii.  p.  454.      f  Serm.  65.  Serm.  66.  L.  v.  cont  Faust,  c.  i. 
VOL.  n.  7 


74  THE    HISTORY   OP  [bOOK 

other,  loosing  the  reins  to  evil  desires  by  leaving  them  abso- 
lutely without  a  remedy.*  Never  believe  any  good  of  those 
who  run  virtue  to  extremes.  The  depravation  of  their  minds 
venting  itself  in  such  extravagance  of  speech,  introduces  into 
their  lives  disorders  without  end. 

61. — The  infamy  of  the  Heretics  and  chiefly  of  the  Patarians. 
St.  Austin  informs  us  that  these  people,  who  debarred  them- 
selves of  marriage,  allowed  liberty  for  every  thing  else.  What, 
according  to  their  principles,  they  had  an  abhorrence  of,  (I  am 
ashamed  to  be  forced  to  repeat  it,)  was  properly  conception ; 
whence  it  appears  what  an  inlet  was  opened  to  the  abominations 
whereof  the  old  and  new  Manicheans  stand  convicted.  But,  as 
among  the  different  sects  of  these  new  Manicheans  there  were 
degrees  of  weakness,  the  most  infamous  of  all  were  those  called 
Patarians  ;  which  I  the  more  willingly  take  notice  of,  by  reason 
that  our  Reformed,  who  place  them  expressly  amongst  the  Vau- 
dois,  glory  in  descending  from  them."! 

62. — Doctrine  of  these  Heretics,  that  the  effect  of  the  Sacraments  depends  on  the 
sanctity  of  the  Ministers. 

Those  that  make  the  greatest  ostentation  of  their  virtue  and 
the  purity  of  their  lives,  generally  speaking,  are  the  most  cor- 
rupt. It  may  have  been  observed  how  these  impure  Manicheans 
prided  themselves,  at  their  beginning,  and  through  the  whole 
progress  of  the  sect,  in  a  virtue  more  severe  than  that  of  others  ; 
and  with  the  view  of  enhancing  their  own  merit,  said  that  the 
sacraments  and  mysteries  lost  their  efficacy  in  impure  hands. 
It  is  necessary  to  take  good  notice  of  this  part  of  their  doctrine, 
which  we  have  seen  in  Enervin,  in  St.  Bernard,  and  in  the 
Council  of  Lombez.  Wherefore  Renier  repeats  twice,  that  this 
imposition  of  hands,  by  them  called  Consolation,  and  wherein 
they  placed  the  remission  of  sins,  was  unprofitable  to  the  re- 
ceiver, if  the  giver  of  it  were  in  sin,  though  hidden.  J  Their 
manner  of  accounting  for  this  doctrine,  according  to  Ermengard, 
was  because  a  person  having  lost  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  no  longer 
empowered  to  give  it ;  which  was  the  very  reason  alleged  by 
the  Donatists  of  old. 

63. — They  condemn  all  Oaths  and  Punishment  of  Crimes. 

It  was  moreover  for  show  of  Sanctity  and  to  raise  themselves 
above  others,  that  they  said,  a  Christian  ought  never  to  affirm 
the  truth  by  oath  for  what  cause  soever,  not  even  in  a  court  of 
judicature,  and  that  it  was  unlawful  to  put  any  one  to  death, 
however  criminal.     The  Vaudois,  as  we  shall  see,  borrowed 

*  Bern.  Serm.  66,  in  Cant, 
t  Aug.  Ren.  c.  xvi,     Ebrard.  c.  26.  T.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  parti,  p.  1178.  Ren.  c. 
vi.  T.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  part  ii.  p.  753.  La  Roq.  Hist,  de  I'Euc.  part  ii.  c.  18.  p.  445. 
I  Ren.  c.  vi.  Ibid.  pp.  756,  759.  Erm.  c.  xiv.  de  imp.  Man.  Bib.  PP.  p.  1254. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  75 

from  them  all  these  extravagant  maxims  and  all  this  vain  ex- 
terior of  piety."* 

Such  were  the  Albigenses  by  the  testimony  of  all  their  con- 
temporary authors,  not  one  excepted.  The  Protestants  blush 
for  them  ;  and  all  they  can  answer  is,  that  these  excesses,  these 
errors,  and  all  these  disorders  of  the  Albigenses,  are  the  cal- 
umnies of  their  enemies.  But  have  they  so  much  as  one  proof 
for  what  they  advance,  or  even  one  author  of  those  times,  and 
for  more  than  four  "hundred  years  after,  to  support  them  in  it  ? 
For  our  parts,  we  produce  as  many  witnesses  as  have  been  au- 
thors in  the  whole  universe  who  have  treated  of  this  sect.  Those 
that  were  educated  in  their  principles  have  revealed  to  us  their 
abominable  secrets  after  their  conversion.  We  trace  up  the 
damnable  sect  even  to  its  source ;  we  show  whence  it  came, 
which  way  it  steered  its  course,  all  its  characteristics,  and  its 
whole  pedigree  branching  from  the  Manichean  root.  They  op- 
pose against  us  conjectures  ;  nay,  what  conjectures  1  We  shall 
take  a  view  of  them,  for  I  mean  to  produce  here  those  that  carry 
the  best  appearance. 

65. — Examination  of  Peter  de  Bruises  doctrine — the  Minister's  objection  taken 

from  Peter  of  Cluny. 

The  greatest  effort  of  our  adversaries  is  in  order  to  justify 
Peter  de  Bruis  and  his  disciple  Henry.  St.  Bernard,  say  they, 
accuses  them  of  condemning  meats  and  marriage.  But  Peter 
the  Venerable,  Abbot  of  Cluny,  who,  much  about  that  time,  re- 
futed Peter  de  Bruis,  speaks  nothing  of  these  errors,  and  ac- 
cuses him  of  five  only  :  of  denying  infant  baptism  ;  of  condemn- 
ing hallowed  churches ;  of  breaking  crosses,  instead  of  venerating 
them  ;  of  rejecting  the  Eucharist ;  of  ridiculing  oblations  and 
prayers  for  the  dead."!"  St.  Bernard  avers  that  this  heretic  and 
his  followers  "  received  only  the  Gospel."  But  Peter  the  Ven- 
erable, speaks  doubtingly  of  it.  "  Fame,"  says  he,  "  has  pub- 
lished that  you  do  not  wholly  believe  either  in  Jesus  Christ,  or 
the  Prophets,  or  the  Apostles  ;  but  reports,  frequently  deceitful, 
are  not  to  be  lightly  credited,  there  being  some  even  that  say, 
you  reject  the  whole  Canon  of  the  Scriptures. "J  Whereupon 
he  adds  :  "  I  will  not  blame  you  for  what  is  uncertain."  Here 
Protestants  commend  the  prudence  of  Peter  the  Venerable,  and 
blame  St.  Bernard's  credulity,  as  one  too  easily  assenting  to 
confuted  reports. 

66. — Peter  de  Bnds's  doctrine  according  to  Peter  of  Cluny, 

But,  in  the  first  place,  to  take  only  what  the  Abbot  of  Cluny 
reproves  as  certain  in  this  heretic,  there  is  more  than  enough  to 

*  Bern.  Serm.  66,  in  Cant.  Ebrard.  c.  xiv.  xv.  Erm.  c.  xviii.  xix.  Bib. 
PP.  pp.  1134,  1136,  1260,  1261.  f  Petr.  Ven.  con.  Petrobr.  X  Petr.  Ven. 
T.  xxii.  Bib.  Max.  p.  1034.    Sermon  65,  in  Cant.   Peter  Ven.  Ibid.  p.  1037. 


76  THE    HISTORY    OP  [BOOK 

condemn  him.  Calvin*  has  numbered  amongst  blasphemies 
the  doctrine  condemning  infant  baptism.  The  denying  it,  with 
Peter  de  Bruis  and  his  disciple  Henry,  was  refusing  salvation 
to  the  most  innocent  age  of  man ;  it  was  saying,  that  for  so 
many  ages,  during  which  scarce  any  were  baptized  but  children, 
there  had  been  no  baptism  in  the  world,  no  sacrament,  no  church, 
no  Christians.  It  is  what  excited  horror  in  the  Abbot  of  Cluny. 
The  rest  of  Peter  de  Bruis's  errors,  refuted  by  this  venerable 
author,  are  not  less  insupportable.  Let  us  give  ear  to  what  he 
is  reproached  with  in  regard  of  the  Eucharist  by  this  holy  abbot, 
who  hath  just  declared  to  us,  that  he  will  object  nothing  to  him 
but  what  is  certain.  "  He  denies,"  says  he,  "  that  the  body  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  can  be  made  by  virtue  of  the  divine  word 
and  ministry  of  the  priest,  and  avers,  that  all  that  is  done  at  the 
altar  is  unprofitable."!  This  is  not  only  denying  the  truth  of 
the  body  and  blood,  but,  like  the  Manicheans,  rejecting  abso- 
lutely the  Eucharist.  For  which  reason  the  holy  abbot  subjoins 
a  little  after,  "  Were  your  heresy  contained  within  the  bounds  of 
that  of  Berengarius,  who,  in  denying  the  truth  of  the  body,  did 
not  deny  the  sacrament  or  the  appearance  and  figure  of  it,  I 
would  refer  you  to  the  authors  that  have  refuted  him.  But," 
proceeds  he,  a  little  after,  "  you  add  error  to  error,  heresy  to 
heresy;  and  not  only  deny  the  truth  of  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  but  their  sacrament,  their  figure,  and  their  appearance, 
and  so  leave  God's  people  without  a  sacrifice." 

67. — St.  Bernard  as  circumspect  as  Peter  of  Cluny, 
As  for  the  errors  of  which  this  holy  abbot  does  not  speak,  and 
those  he  doubts  of,  it  is  easy  to  comprehend  that  the  reason  of 
this  was,  their  not  being  as  yet  sufficiently  proved,  nor  all  the 
secrets  of  a  sect,  which  had  so  many  windings  and  turnings, 
thoroughly  disclosed  at  the  beginning.  They  came  to  light  by 
degrees ;  and  Peter  the  Venerable,  assures  us  himself,  that 
Henry,  the  disciple  of  Bruis,  had  added  a  great  deal  to  the  five 
chapters  condemned  in  his  master.  J  He  had  by  him  the  writing 
wherein  all  this  heresiarch's  new  en*ors  were  collected  from  his 
own  mouth.  But  this  holy  abbot  waited,  before  he  refuted  them, 
for  still  further  assurance.  St.  Bernard,  who  had  beheld  these 
heretics  at  close  view,  knew  more  of  them  than  Peter  the 
Venerable,  who  wrote  only  from  report ;  nor  did  he  know  all, 
and  for  that  reason  would  not  venture  to  call  them  complete 
Manicheans  ;§  for  he  was  not  less  circumspect  than  Peter  the 
Venerable,  to  impute  nothing  to  them  but  what  was  certain. 
Accordingly,  observe  how  he  speaks  of  their  impurities  :  "  Men 
say,  they  do  shameful  things  in  private."  |1    "  Men  say,"  imphes, 

*  Opusc.  cont.  servet.    f  Bib.  Mex.  p.  107.    J  Ep.  ad  Episcop.  Arelat.  &c. 
Ante  Epist.  contra  Petrob.    Bib.  Max.  p.  1034.    §  Sermon  66.      jl  Ibid.  65. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  77 

he  had  not  as  yet  a  full  assurance  of  them,  for  which  reason  he 
durst  not  speak  positively.  Those  who  knew  them,  have  spoken 
of  them ;  but  this  circumspection  of  St.  Bernard  shows  us 
clearly  the  certainty  of  that  which  he  objects  to  them. 

68. — Jlnsioer  to  the  objection  regarding  the  credulity  of  St.  Bernard. 
But,  say  they,  he  was  credulous,  and  Otho  of  Frisingen,  an 
author  of  the  time,  has  reproached  him  with  it.  We  must  still 
hear  this  conjecture,  which  Protestants  lay  so  much  stress  on. 
It  is  true,  Otho  of  Frisingen  finds  St.  Bernard  too  credulous, 
because  he  caused  the  manifest  errors  of  Gilbert  of  Poiree, 
Bishop  of  Poictiers,  to  be  condemned,  whom  his  disciple  Otho 
endeavored  to  excuse.  This  reproach  of  Otho  is  then  an  ex- 
cuse, which  a  fond  disciple  draws  up  for  his  master.  Let  us 
see,  however,  in  what  he  makes  the  credulity  of  St.  Bernard  to 
consist.  "  This  abbot,"  said  Otho,  "  both  by  the  fei-vor  of  his 
faith,  and  by  his  natural  goodness,  had  a  little  too  much  cre- 
dulity ;  so  that  the  doctors,  who  trusted  too  much  to  human 
reason,  and  to  the  wisdom  of  the  age,  became  suspected  by 
him  ;  and  if  it  was  mentioned  to  him,  that  their  doctrine  was 
not  altogether  conformable  to  the  faith,  he  easily  beheved  it."* 
Was  he  wrong?  Unquestionably  not;  and  experience  suf- 
ficiently shows  that  Peter  Abelard,  who  became  suspected  by 
him  in  consequence  of  this  ;  and  Gilbert,  who  explained  the 
Trinity  rather  according  to  the  topics  of  Aristotle  than  according 
to  tradition  and  the  rule  of  faith,  strayed  from  the  right  path, 
since  their  errors,  condemned  in  the  councils,  are  equally  con- 
demned by  Catholics  and  Protestants. 

69. — St.  Bernard  imputes  nothing,  of  which  he  is  not  certain,  to  Peter  de  Bniis 
and  Henry,  the  seducers  of  the  Toulousians. 

Let  us  not  then  here  arraign  the  credulity  of  St.  Bernard. 
If  he  have  represented  to  us  Henry,  the  disciple  of  Peter  de 
Bruis,  and  the  seducer  of  the  Toulousians,  as  the  most  wicked 
and  the  most  hypocritical  of  all  men,  all  writers  of  the  time 
have  passed  the  same  judgment  on  him.  The  errors  which  he 
attributes  to  the  disciples  of  these  heretics  have  been  acknowl- 
edged and  discovered  by  themselves  more  and  more  every  day, 
as  the  sequel  of  this  history  will  show.  It  was  not  without 
reason  that  St.  Bernard  imputed  to  them  those  which  we  find 
in  his  sermons.  "  I  wish,"  said  he,  "  to  recount  to  you  their 
extravagances,  which  we  have  ascertained,  either  by  the  answers 
which  they  have  given,  without  intending  it,  to  CathoUcs,  or  by 
the  mutual  reproaches,  which  their  divisions  have  caused  to 
burst  forth,  or  by  the  things  which  they  did,  after  having  been 
converted."  Thus,  then,  those  extravagances  were  discovered, 
which  St.  Bernard  subsequently  calls  blasphemies.  When  there 
*  Albert.  La  Roq.    Otho.  Fris  in  Frid.  c.  46,  47. 

VOL.  II.  7* 


78  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

was  nothing  else  in  the  Henricans,  but  their  blind  attachment 
for  those  women,  whom  they  kept  in  their  company,  as  St. 
Bernard  states,  and  with  whom  they  spent  their  lives,  shut  up 
in  the  same  room  night  and  day,  that  were  sufficient  for  their 
being  held  in  detestation.  However,  the  matter  was  so  pubhc, 
that  St.  Bernard  wished  that  they  should  be  known  by  this  mark. 
"  Tell  me,"  said  he  to  them,  "  my  friend,  what  woman  is  this  ? 
Is  she  your  wife?" — "  No,"  say  they,  "  that  suits  not  my  pro- 
fession." "  Is  she  your  daughter,  your  sister,  your  niece  ?" — 
"  No  ;  she  is  no  way  related  to  me." — "  But  do  you  know  that 
it  is  not  allowed,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Church,  to  those 
who  have  professed  continence,  to  cohabit  with  women  ]  Put 
her  away,  then,  if  you  wish  not  to  scandalize  the  Church  ;  other- 
wise, this  fact,  which  is  manifest,  will  make  us  suspect  the  rest, 
which  is  not  so  much  so."  He  was  not  too  credulous  in  this 
suspicion,  and  the  turpitude  of  these  pretendedly  chaste  indi- 
viduals has  since  been  disclosed  to  the  entire  world. 

70, — Conclusion. 
Whence  comes  it  then,  that  Protestants  undertake  the  defence 
of  these  wicked  men  1  The  reason  is  too  obvious.  It  is  their 
ambition  to  procure  themselves  predecessors.  They  find  none 
others  who  reject  the  worship  of  the  cross,  the  prayers  of  the 
saints,  and  oblations  for  the  dead.  They  are  annoyed  at  finding 
the  commencement  of  their  reformation  only  among  the  Mani- 
cheans.  Because  they  grumble  against  the  Pope  and  the  Church 
of  Rome,  the  reformation  is  well  disposed  in  their  favor.  The 
Catholics  of  that  time  reproach  them  with  their  bad  notions 
concerning  the  Eucharist.  Our  Protestants  would  have  been 
glad  if  they  had  been  but  mere  Berengarians,  displeased  with 
the  Eucharist  in  part,  not  Manicheans,  averse  to  it  in  the  whole. 
But  though  it  had  been  so,  these  reformed,  whom  you  will  have 
your  brethren,  concealed  their  doctrine, "  frequented  our  churches, 
honored  priests,  went  to  the  oblation ;  confessed  their  sins,  com- 
municated, received  with  us,"  continues  St.  Bernard,  "  the  body 
and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."*  Behold  them,  therefore,  in  our 
assemblies,  which  in  their  hearts  they  detested  as  the  conventi- 
cles of  Satan  ;  present  at  mass,  which,  in  their  error,  they  ac- 
counted an  idolatry  and  sacrilege  ;  and,  in  short,  practising  the 
usages  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  they  believed  was  the 
kingdom  of  Antichrist.  Are  these  the  disciples  of  Him,  who 
commanded  his  gospel  to  be  preached  on  the  house-tops  1  Are 
these  the  children  of  light  ?  Are  these  the  works  which  shine 
forth  before  men,  or  rather  such  as  should  be  hid  in  darkness  ? 
In  a  word,  are  these  fit  fathers  for  the  Reformation  to  choose 
and  boast  of? 

*  Sermon  65,  in  Cant.    Ecbert.    Ren, 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  79 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  VAUDOIS. 

71. — Beginning  of  the  Vaiulois,  or  Poor  Men  of  Lyons. 

The  Vaudois  serve  them  no  better  with  regard  to  establishing 
a  legitimate  succession.  Their  name  is  derived  from  Waldo, 
the  author  of  the  sect.  Lyons  was  the  place  of  their  nativity. 
They  were  called  the  "  poor  men"  of  Lyons,  on  account  of  the 
poverty  affected  by  them  ;  and  as  the  city  of  Lyons  was  then 
called,  in  Latin,  Leona,  they  had  also  the  appellation  of  Leon- 
ists,  or  Lionists. 

72. — The  names  of  the  Sect. 

They  were  also  called  the  Insabbatized,  from  an  ancient  word 
signifying  shoes,  whence  have  proceeded  other  words  of  a  like 
signification,  still  in  use  in  several  other  languages  as  well  as 
ours.*  They  took,  therefore,  the  name  of  the  Insabbatized  from 
a  sort  of  shoes  of  a  particular  make,  which  they  cut  in  the  upper 
part,  to  show  their  feet  naked  like  the  Apostles,  as  they  said  ; 
and  this  fashion  was  affected  by  them  in  token  of  their  apostolic 
poverty. 

73. — Their  History  bipartite. — Their  beginnings  specious. 

Now,  here  is  an  abridgment  of  their  history.  At  their  first 
separation,  they  held  but  few  tenets  contrary  to  ours,  if  any  at 
all.  In  the  year  1160,  Peter  Waldo,  a  merchant  of  Lyons,  at  a 
meeting  held,  as  was  customary,  with  the  other  rich  traders  of 
the  town,  was  so  lively  struck  with  the  sudden  death  of  one  of 
the  most  eminent  amongst  them,  that  he  immediately  distributed 
all  his  means,  which  were  considerable,  to  the  poor  of  that  city  ; 
and  having,  on  that  account,  gathered  a  great  number  of  them, 
he  preached  to  them  voluntary  poverty,  and  the  imitation  of  the 
life  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Apostles.  This  is  what  Renier  says, 
whom  the  Protestants,  pleased  with  the  encomiums  we  shall 
find  he  bestows  on  the  Vaudois,  will  have  us  believe  in  this  mat- 
ter preferably  to  all  other  authors.!  But  we  are  going  to  see, 
what  misguided  piety  can  arrive  to.  Peter  Pylicdorf,  who  be- 
held the  Yaudois  in  their  most  flourishing  condition,  and  related, 
not  only  their  dogmas,  but  deportment  too,  with  much  simpli- 
city and  learning,  says,  that  Waldo,  moved  with  those  words  of 
the  gospel  so  highly  favorable  to  poverty,  believed  the  apostolic 
life  was  no  longer  to  be  found  on  earth.  Bent  on  restoring  it, 
he  sold  all  he  had.  "  Others,  touched  with  compunction,  did 
the  same,"  and  united  together  in  this  undertaking.  J  At  the 
first  rise  of  this  obscure  and  timorous  sect,  either  they  had  none, 
or  did  not  publish  any  particular  tenet ;  which  was  the  reason 
that  Ebrard  of  Bethune  remarks  nothing  singular  in  them  but 

*  Ebrard.    Ibid.  c.  25.     Conrad.  Ursper.  Chron.  ad  An.  1212. 
t  Ren.  c.  V.  p.  749.        |  Lib.  cont.  Wal.  c.  i.  T.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  part  ii.  p.  779. 


80  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

the  affectation  of  a  proud  and  lazy  poverty.*  One  might  see 
these  Insabbatized  or  Sabbatized,  so  he  calls  them,  with  their 
naked  feet,  or  rather  with  "  their  shoes  cut  open"  at  top,  waiting 
for  rims,  and  living  only  on  what  was  given  them."]"  Nothing 
was  blamed  in  them,  at  first,  but  ostentation,  and,  without  rank- 
ing them  as  yet  amongst  heretics,  they  were  reproached  only 
with  imitating  their  pride.  J  But  let  us  hear  the  sequel  of  their 
history  :  "  After  living  awhile  in  this  pretended  apostolic  pov- 
erty, they  bethought  themselves  that  the  Apostles  were  not  only 
poor,  but  also  preached  the  gospel." §  They  set  themselves, 
therefore,  to  preach,  according  to  their  example,  that  they  might 
wholly  imitate  the  apostolic  life.  But  the  apostles  were  sent ; 
and  these  men,  whose  ignorance  rendered  them  incapable  of 
such  mission,  were  excluded  by  the  prelates,  and  lastly,  by  the 
Holy  See,  from  a  ministry  which  they  had  usurped  without  their 
leave.  Nevertheless,  they  continued  it  in  private,  and  mur- 
mured against  the  clergy,  that  hindered  them  from  preaching, 
as  they  said,  through  jealousy,  and  on  account  that  their  doc- 
trine and  holy  life  cast  a  reproach  on  the  corrupt  manners  of 
the  other.  II 

74. — Whether  Waldo  were  a  man  of  learning. 
Some  Protestants  have  asserted,  that  Waldo  was  a  man  of 
learning  ;  but  Renier  says  only,  "  he  had  a  small  tincture  of  it  ;'* 
aliqiianlulmn  liter atus.yi  Other  Protestants,  on  the  contrary,  take 
advantage  from  the  great  success  he  had  in  his  ignorance.  But 
it  is  but  too  well  known,  what  a  dexterity  often  may  be  met  with 
in  the  minds  of  the  most  ignorant  men,  to  attract  to  them  those 
tliat  are  alike  disposed,  and  Waldo  seduced  none  but  such. 

75. — The  Vaudois  condemned  by  Lucius  III. 
This  sect,  in  a  little  time,  made  a  great  progress.  Bernard, 
abbot  of  Fontcauld,  who  saw  their  beginnings,  remarks  their 
increase  under  Pope  Lucius  III.**  This  Pope's  pontificate 
commences  in  1181,  to  wit,  twenty  years  after  Waldo  had  ap- 
peared at  Lyons.  Twenty  years  at  least  were  requisite  to  make 
a  body  and  so  considerable  a  sect  as  to  deserve  notice.  At  that 
time,  therefore,  Lucius  III  condemned  them ;  and  as  his  pon- 
tificate held  but  four  years,  this  first  condemnation  of  the  Vau- 
dois must  have  fallen  between  the  year  1181,  when  this  Pope 
was  raised  to  St.  Peter's  chair,  and  the  year  1185,  wherein  he 
died. 

76. — They  come  to  Rome. — They  are  not  accused  of  any  thing  in  respect  to  the 

Real  Presence. 

Conrade,  abbot  of  Ursperg,  thoroughly  acquainted,  as  we 

*  Antih.  c.  25.     Bib.  Max.,  1168.  f  Ibid. 

i  Bib.  p.  1170.         §  Pylicd.  ib.  ||  Pylicd.  ib.  Ren.  ib.        IF  Ren.  c.  vL 

*+  Bern.  Abb.  Fontiscal.  adv.  Wald.  Sect.  T.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  Pr«f.  p.  1195. 


XI  J  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  81 

shall  find,  with  the  Yaudois,  has  written,  that  Pope  Lucius  placed 
them  in  the  number  of  heretics,  on  account  of  some  dogmas 
and  superstitious  observances.  As  yet  these  dogmas  are  not 
specified ;  but  there  is  no  question,  that,  i-f  the  Vaudois  had 
denied  such  remarkable  points  as  that  of  the  Real  Presence  (a 
matter  become  so  notorious  by  Berengarius's  condemnation,) 
it  had  not  been  thought  sufficient  to  say  in  general,  they  held 
*'  some  superstitious  dogmas."* 

77. — Another  proof  that  their  errors  did  not  regard  the  Eucharist. 
Much  about  the  same  time,  in  the  year  1194,  a  statute  of  Al- 
phonsus  or  Ildephonsus,  King  of  Arragon,  reckons  the  Vaudois 
or  Insabbatized,  otherwise  the  poor  men  of  Lyons,  amongst 
heretics  anathematized  by  the  Church,  and  this  is  manifestly  in 
consequence  of  the  sentence  pronounced  by  Lucius  III.  After 
this  Pope's  death.  When  in  spite  of  his  decree  these  heretics 
spread  themselves  far  and  near,  and  Bernard,  Archbishop  of 
Narbonne,  who  condemned  them  anew  after  a  great  inquest, 
could  not  stem  the  current  of  their  progi'ess,  many  pious  persons, 
Ecclesiastics  and  others,  procured  a  conference,  in  order  to 
reclaim  them  in  an  amicable  manner.  "  Both  sides  agreed  to 
choose  for  umpire"  in  the  conference,  a  holy  priest  called  Rai- 
mond  of  Daventry,  "  a  man  illustrious  for  birth,  but  much  more 
so  for  the  holiness  of  his  life."  The  assembly  was  very  solemn, 
"  and  the  dispute  held  long."  Such  passages  of  Scripture,  as 
each  party  grounded  itself  on,  were  produced  on  both  sides. 
The  Vaudois  were  condemned,  and  declared  heretics  in  regard 
to  all  the  heads  of  accusation,  "f 

78. — Proof  of  the  same  truth  by  a  famous  Conference,  wherein  all  points  were 

discussed. 
Thence  it  appears  that  the  Vaudois,  though  condemned,  had 
not  as  yet  broken  all  measures  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  inas- 
much as  they  had  agreed  to  the  umpirage  of  a  Catholic  and  a 
priest.    The  Abbot  of  Fontcauld,  present  at  the  conference,  did 
commit  to  writing,  with  much  judgment  and  perspicuity,  the  de- 
bated points,  and  the  passages  alleged  on  both  sides  :   so  that 
nothing  can  give  us  a  clearer  insight  into  the  whole  state  of  the 
question,  such  as  it  then  was,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sect. 
79. — Articles  of  the  Conference. 
The  dispute  chiefly  turned  on  the  obedience  due  to  pastors. 
It  is  plain,  the  Vaudois  refused  it,  and,  notwithstanding  all  their 
prohibitions,  believed  they  had  a  right  to  preach,  both  men  and 
women.     As  this  disobedience  could  be  grounded  on  nothing 
else  but  the  pastor's  unwortliiness,  the  Catholics,  in  proving  the 

*  Chron.  ad  An.  1212.  +  Apud  Em.  p.  ii.  direct,  inq.  q.  xiv.  p.  287,  et 

apud  Mai-ian.  Praef.  in  Luc.  Trid.  t.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  ii.  p.  ii.  p.  582.  Bern,  de 
Font.  Cal.  adversus  WaL  Sect,  in  Pitef.  t.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  p.  iii.  p.  1195. 


82  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

obedience  due  to  them,  prove  it  is  due  even  to  the  wicked,  and 
that  grace,  be  its  channel  what  it  will,  never  ceases  to  diffuse 
itself  on  the  faithful.*  For  the  same  reason  they  showed,  that 
slandering  of  pastors  (whence  was  taken  the  pretext  of  disobe- 
dience) was  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  God.^  Then  they  attack 
the  liberty,  which  laymen  gave  themselves,  of  preaching  with- 
out the  pastors'  leave,  nay,  in  spite  of  their  prohibitions,  and 
show,  that  this  seditious  preaching  tends  to  the  subversion  of 
the  weak  and  ignorant.  J  Above  all,  they  prove  from  the  Scrip- 
ture,§  that  women,  to  whom  silence  is  enjoined,  ought  not  to 
interfere  in  teaching.  ||  Lastly,  it  is  remonstrated  to  the  Yau- 
dois,  how  much  they  are  in  the  wrong,  to  reject  prayer  for  the 
dead,  so  well  grounded  in  Scripture,  and  so  evidently  handed 
down  by  tradition  :  and,  whereas,  these  heretics  absented  them- 
selves from  the  churches,  in  order  to  pray  apart  in  their  houses, 
they  are  made  sensible,  that  they  ought  not  to  abandon  the  house 
of  prayer,  whose  sanctity  the  whole  Scripture  and  the  Son  of 
God  himself  had  so  much  recommended. 

80. — The  Eucharist  is  not  there  spoken  of. 

Without  examining  here  which  side  was  right  or  wrong  in  this 
debate,  it  is  plain,  what  was  the  ground  of  it,  and  which  were 
the  points  contested  ;  and  it  is  more  clear  than  day,  that  in  these 
beginnings,  far  from  bringing  the  Real  Presence,  transubstan- 
tiation,  or  the  sacraments  into  question,  they  did  not  as  yet  so 
much  as  mention  praying  to  saints,  nor  rehcs,  nor  images. 

81. — Jllanus,  who  makes  a  list  of  the  errors  of  the  Vaudois,  objects  nothing 
concerning  the  Eucharist, 

It  was  nearly  about  this  time,  that  Alanus  wrote  the  book 
above  mentioned ;  wherein,  after  carefully  distinguishing  the 
Vaudois  from  the  other  heretics  of  his  time,  he  undertakes  to 
prove,  in  opposition  to  their  doctrine,  "  That  none  ought  to 
preach  without  mission ;  that  prelates  should  be  obeyed,  and 
not  only  good,  but  also  evil  ones  ;  that  their  bad  lives  derogate 
not  from  their  power ;  that  it  is  to  the  sacred  order  we  ought 
to  attribute  the  power  of  consecrating  and  that  of  binding  and 
loosing,  and  not  to  personal  merit ;  that  we  ought  to  confess 
to  priests,  and  not  to  laymen  ;  that  it  is  lawful  to  swear  in  cer- 
tain cases,  and  to  execute  malefactors. "IT  This  is  much  what 
he  opposes  to  the  errors  of  the  Yaudois.  Had  they  erred  in 
relation  to  the  Eucharist,  Alanus  would  not  have  forgotten  it, 
the  very  thing  he  was  so  mindful  to  reproach  the  Albigenses 
with,  against  whom  he  undertakes  to  prove  both  the  Real  Pres- 
ence and  transubstantiation  ;  and  after  reproving  so  many  things 

*  c.  1,  2.      t  lb.  c.  3.      t  lb.  c.  4,  et  seq.      §  lb.  c.  7.      ||  lb.  c.  8.    c  9. 
II  Alan.  lib.  ii.  p.  175,  et  seq.    Lib.  i.  p.  118,  et  seq. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  83 

of  less  importance  in  the  Yaudois,  he  would  never  have  omitted 
so  essential  a  point. 

82. — J^or  Peter  de  Vaucernay. 

A  Uttle  after  Alanus's  time,  and  about  the  year  1201,  Peter 
de  Vaucernay,  a  plain  downright  man,  and  of  unquestionable 
sincerity,  distinguishes  the  Vaudois  from  the  Albigenses  by  their 
proper  characters,  when  he  tells  us,  "  the  Vaudois  were  bad,  but 
much  less  so  than  these  other  heretics,"  who  admitted  the  two 
principles,  and  all  the  consequences  of  that  damnable  doctrine.* 
"  Not  to  mention,"  proceeds  the  author,  "  their  other  infideli- 
ties ;  their  error  chiefly  consisted  in  four  heads  :  viz.,  their 
wealing  sandals  in  imitation  of  the  Apostles  ;  their  saying  it  was 
not  lawful  to  swear  for  any  cause  whatsoever ;  nor  to  put  to 
death,  even  malefactors  ;  lastly,  in  that  they  said  that  each  one 
of  them,  though  but  mere  laymen,  provided  he  wore  sandals, 
(namely,  as  above  seen,  the  mark  of  apostolic  poverty,)  might 
consecrate  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ."  Here  are  in  reality  the 
specific  characters  that  denote  the  true  spirit  of  the  Vaudois ; 
the  affectation  of  poverty  in  the  sandals  which  were  the  badge 
of  it ;  simplicity  and  apparent  meekness  in  rejecting  all  oaths 
and  capital  punishments,  and,  what  was  more  peculiar  to  this 
sect,  the  belief  that  the  laity,  provided  they  had  embraced  their 
pretended  apostolic  poverty  and  bore  its  badge,  that  is,  provided 
they  were  of  their  sect,  might  administer  and  consecrate  the 
Sacraments,  even  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  rest,  as  their 
doctrine  concerning  prayer  for  the  dead,  was  comprised  in  the 
other  infidelities  of  these  heretics,  which  this  author  forbears  to 
particularize.  Yet,  had  they  risen  up  against  the  Real  Pres- 
ence, since  the  disturbance  this  matter  had  caused  in  the  Church, 
not  only  this  religious  would  not  have  forgotten  it,  but  had  been 
far  from  saying,  "  they  consecrated  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ," 
thereby  making  them  not  to  differ  from  Catholics  in  this  point, 
except  their  attributing  to  laymen  that  power,  which  Catholics 
acknowledged  only  in  the  priesthood. 

83. — The  Vaudois  come  to  demand  the  approbation  of  Innocent  III. 

It  appears  then  manifestly,  that  the  Yaudois  in  1209,  at  the 
time  of  Peter  de  Yaucernay's  writings,  had  not  so  much  as 
thought  of  denying  the  Real  Presence,  but  retained  so  much 
either  true  or  apparent  submission  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  that 
even  in  1212,  they  came  to  Rome,  in  order  to  obtain  "  the  appro- 
bation of  their  sect  from  the  Holy  See."  It  was  then  that  Con- 
rade.  Abbot  of  Ursperg,"f  saw  them  there,  as  he  himself  reports, 
with  their" master  Bernard.  They  may  be  discovered  by  the 
characters  given  them  by  this  chronicler  :  they  were  "  the  poor 

*  Pet.  de  Val.-Cern.  Hist.  Albig.  c.  2.    Duch.  Hist.  Fran,  t  v.  p.  575. 
■f  Conr.  Ursperg.  ad  An.  1212. 


84  THE    HISTORY    OP  [BOOK 

men  of  Lyons,  those  whom  Lucius  III  had  put  in  the  list  of 
heretics,"  who  made  themselves  remarkable  by  the  affectation 
"  of  apostolic  poverty,  with  their  shoes  cut  open  at  top  ;"  who 
in  "  their  private  preaching  and  clandestine  assemblies  reviled 
the  Church  and  Priesthood."  The  Pope  judged  the  affectation 
was  very  odd  which  they  discovered  "  in  these  cut  shoes,  and 
in  their  capuches,  like  those  of  the  religious,  though,  contrary 
to  their  custom,  they  wore  a  long  head  of  hair  like  laymen." 
And  truly,  these  strange  affectations  most  commonly  cover 
something  bad  ;  but  especially  men  took  offence  at  the  liberty 
these  new  apostles  gave  themselves  of  going  promiscuously  to- 
gether, men  and  women,  in  imitation,  as  they  said,  of  the  pious 
women  that  followed  Jesus  Christ  and  the  apostles  to  minister 
to  them  ;  but  very  different  were  the  times,  the  persons,  and  the 
circumstances. 

84. — The  Vaudois  begin  to  be  treated  like  obstinate  heretics. 

It  was,  says  the  Abbot  of  Ursperg,  with  the  design  of  giving 
to  the  Church  men  truly  poor,  more  divested  of  earthly  goods 
than  these  false  poor  of  Lyons,  that  the  Pope  afterwards  ap- 
proved the  institute  of  the  Brother- Minors,  assembled  under  the 
direction  of  St.  Francis,  the  true  pattern  of  humility,  and  miracle 
of  the  age  ;  whilst  these  other  poor,  fraught  with  hatred  against 
the  Church  and  her  ministers,  notwithstanding  their  fallacious 
humility,  were  rejected  by  the  Holy  See  ;  insomuch  that,  after- 
wards, they  were  treated  as  contumacious  and  incorrigible  here- 
tics. Yet  they  made  a  show  of  submission  till  the  year  1212, 
which  was  the  fifteenth  of  Innocent  III,  and  fifty  years  since 
their  beginning. 

85. — The  Church's  patience  in  regard  to  the  Vaudois. 

Thence  a  judgment  may  be  formed  of  the  Church's  patience 
with  respect  to  these  heretics,  using  no  rigor  against  them  for 
fifty  years  together,  but  endeavoring  to  reclaim  them  by  confer- 
ences. Besides  that  mentioned  by  Bernard,  Abbot  of  Font- 
cauld,  we  also  find  another  in  Peter  de  Vaucernay,*  about  the 
year  1206,  where  the  Vaudois  were  confounded  ;  and  lastly  in 
1212,  when,  on  their  coming  again  to  Rome,  the  Church  pro- 
ceeded no  further  against  them  than  by  rejecting  their  impos- 
ture. Three  years  after.  Innocent  III  held  the  great  Council 
of  Lateran,  where,  in  his  condemnation  of  heretics,  he  particu- 
larly takes  notice  of  "  those,  who,  under  pretext  of  piety,  arro- 
gate to  themselves  the  authority  of  preaching  without  mission  ;" 
whereby  he  seems  to  have  particularly  pointed  out  the  Yaudois, 
and  distinguished  them  by  the  Origin  of  their  schism. 

*  Pet  de  Val.  c.  6.  p.  561.    Cone,  Lat.  iv.  Can.  3,  de  Hsefot 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  85 

86. — The  sect  of  the  Vaudois  a  species  ofDonatism. 
Here  are  seen  evidently  the  beginnings  of  this  sect.  It  was 
a  kind  of  Donatism,  but  different  from  that  impugned  of  old  in 
Africa,  in  that  the  African  Donatists,  making  the  effect  of  the 
sacraments  depend  on  the  virtue  of  the  ministers,  reserved  at 
least  the  pov/er  of  conferring  them  to  holy  priests  and  bishops  ; 
whereas  these  new  Donatists  atti-ibuted  it,  as  above  seen,  to  lay- 
men whose  life  was  pure.  Nor  did  they  come  to  this  excess 
but  by  degrees ;  for  at  first  they  allowed  nothing  to  the  laity  but 
preaching.  They  not  only  reproved  evil  manners,  which  the 
Church  no  less  condemned  than  they,  but  also  many  other  things 
she  approved  of,  as  ceremonies,  yet  so  as  not  to  touch  on  the 
sacraments  :  for  Pylicdorf,*  who  was  very  accurate  in  obsei-ving 
both  the  ancient  spirit  and  the  whole  progress  of  the  sect,  ob- 
serves that  they  discarded  every  thing  employed  by  the  Church 
to  edify  the  faithful,  "except,"  says  he,|  "the  sacraments  alone;" 
which  shows,  they  left  them  untouched.  The  same  author  re- 
lates, moreover,  "  that  it  was  a  long  while  before  they  began, 
being  laymen,  to  hear  confessions,  to  enjoin  penances,  and  give 
absolution ;  and  it  has  been  observed  but  a  little  time  since," 
continues  this  author,  "  that  one  of  these  heretics,  a  mere  lay- 
man, did  consecrate,  according  to  his  notion,  our  Lord's  body, 
and  communicated  himself,  together  with  his  accomplices,  al- 
though somewhat  reprimanded  for  it  by  the  rest." 

87. — Their  prestimption  increased  by  little  and  little. 

See  how  their  presumption  increased  by  degrees.  The  fol- 
lowers of  Waldo,  scandalized  at  the  lives  of  several  priests, 
"  believed  themselves,"  says  the  same  Pylicdorf,  better  absolved 
by  their  own  people,  seemingly  to  them  more  virtuous,  than  by 
the  ministers  of  the  Church,  J  which  proceeded  from  the  opinion, 
wherein  principally  consisted  the  error  of  the  Vaudois,  that  per- 
sonal merit  had  greater  influence  in  the  sacraments  than  char- 
acter and  order. 

83. — The  Vaudois  doctrine  concerning  Church  goods. 

But  the  Yaudois  carried  the  merit  necessary  to  Ministers  of 
the  Church  so  far  as  to  have  nothing  in  property ;  and  this  was 
one  of  their  dogmas,  that  to  consecrate  the  Eucharist,  it  was 
requisite  to  be  poor  like  them  :  so  "  that  Catholic  priests  were 
not  the  true  and  legitimate  successors  of  Jesus  Christ's  apostles, 
because  they  possessed  goods  of  their  own  ;"§  which  they  pre- 
tended Jesus  Christ  had  forbidden  his  apostles. 

89. — J^o  error  relating  to  the  Sacraments. 
Hitherto  their  whole  error,  in  respect  to  the  sacraments,  re- 

*  Pet.  Pylicid.  cont.  Wald.  c.  i.  T.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  part  ii.  p.  780.      f  Ibid. 
X  Ibid.  §  V.  sup.  Pet.  de  Valle-Cern.     Refut.  Error.    Ibid.  p.  819. 

VOL.    II.  8 


86  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

garded  only  the  persons  empowered  to  administer  them  ;  all  the 
rest  was  left  entire,  as  says  expressly  Pylicdorf.  So  they  doubted 
not  either  of  the  real  presence,  or  transubstantiation ;  and,  on 
the  contrary,  this  author  has  but  just  informed  us,  that  the  lay- 
man presuming  to  give  communion,  did  only  believe  "  he  had 
consecrated  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ."  After  all,  by  the  man- 
ner we  have  seen  this  heresy  begin,  it  seems  as  if  Waldo  had 
a  good  design  at  first ;  that  the  glory  of  poverty  which  he  boasted 
of,  did  seduce  both  him  and  his  followers  ;  that,  puffed  up  with 
the  holiness  of  their  lives,  they  swelled  with  a  bitter  zeal  against 
the  clergy,  and  whole  Catholic  Church  ;*  that,  exasperated  with 
their  being  prohibited  to  preach,  they  fell  into  schism,  and,  as 
Gui  says,  "  from  schism  into  heresy." 

90. — Manifest  insincerity  of  Protestant  Historians,  and  of  Paid  Perrin,  con- 
cerning the  beginnings  of  the  Vaudois. 

From  this  faithful  account,  and  the  incontestable  proofs  with 
which  it  is  manifestly  supported,  it  is  easy  to  judge  how  much 
Protestant  historians  have  abused  the  public  credit  by  their  re- 
lation of  their  origin  of  the  Vaudois.  Paul  Perrin,  author  of 
their  history  printed  at  Geneva,  says,  that  in  the  year  1160,  when 
the  penalty  of  death  was  denounced  against  all  who  should  dis- 
believe the  Real  Presence,  "  Peter  Waldo,  a  citizen  of  Lyons, 
was  one  of  the  most  courageous  in  opposing  such  an  invention,  "f 
But  nothing  is  more  false  ;  the  article  of  the  Real  Presence  had 
been  defined  a  hundred  years  before,  against  Berengarius  :  noth- 
ing had  been  done  anew  relating  to  this  article  ;  and  so  far  was 
Waldo  from  opposing  it,  that  we  have  seen  both  him  and  all  his 
disciples  in  the  common  faith  for  fifty  years  together. 
91. — The  Minister  de  la  Roque. 

M.  de  la  Roque,J  more  learned  than  Perrin,  is  not  more  sin- 
cere, when  he  says,  "  that  Peter  Waldo,  having  found  whole  na- 
tions divided  from  the  communion  of  the  Latin  Church,  joined 
himself  to  them  with  his  followers,  in  order  to  make  but  one  and 
the  same  body,  and  one  and  the  same  society,  by  the  unity  of 
one  and  the  same  doctrine."  But,  on  the  contrary,  we  have 
seen,  in  the  first  place,  that  all  the  contemporary  authors  (for 
not  one  have  we  omitted)  have  shown  us  the  Vaudois  and  Al- 
bigenses  as  two  distinct  sects ;  secondly,  that  all  these  authors 
discover  these  Albigenses  to  be  Manicheans  ;  and  I  defy  all  the 
Protestants  in  the  world  to  show  me  that  there  was  any  where 
in  Europe,  when  Waldo  arose,  any  one  sect  separate  from  Rome 
which  was  not  either  the  very  sect,  or  some  branch  and  subdi- 
vision of  Manicheism.  Thus,  nothing  can  make  Waldo's  cause 
more  evidently  defenceless,  than  to  grant  liis  abettors  what  they 

*  Guid.  Car.  de  Haer.  in  Haeresi  Wald.  init.     f  Hist,  des  Vaudois,  chap.  i. 
X  Hist,  de  I'Euch.  part  ii.  ch.  xviii.  p.  454. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  87 

demand  in  his  behalf,  namely,  that  he  joined  himself  in  unity  of 
doctrine  with  the  Albigenses,  or  with  such  people  as,  at  that 
time,  were  separated  from  the  communion  of  Rome.  In  a  word, 
though  Waldo  should  have  united  himself  to  guiltless  churches, 
his  particular  errors  would  not  have  allowed  any  advantage  to 
be  drawn  from  this  union,  these  errors  being  detested,  not  by 
Catholics  only,  but  also  by  the  Protestants. 

92. — Whether  the  Vaudois  aftei-wards  changed  their  doctrine  about  the  Eucharist. 

But  let  us  proceed  in  the  history  of  the  Vaudois,  and  see 
whether  our  Protestants  will  discover  in  it  any  thing  more  fa- 
vorable from  the  time  these  heretics  broke  off  entirely  from  the 
Church.  The  first  act  we  meet  with  against  the  Vaudois  since 
the  great  council  of  Lateran,  is  a  Canon  of  the  Council  of  Tar- 
ragona, describing  the  Insabbatized,  as  men  "  that  forbade  to 
swear,  and  obey  ecclesiastic  and  secular  powers,  and  moreover 
to  punish  malefactors,  and  other  such  hke  things,"*  not  the  least 
word  appearing  in  regard  of  the  Real  Presence,  which  not  only 
would  have  been  expressed,  but  also  set  foremost,  had  they 
denied  it. 

93. — Proof  of  the  contrary  from  Renter. 

At  the  same  time,  and  towards  the  year  1250,  Renier,  so  often 
quoted,  who  so  carefully  distinguishes  the  Vaudois  or  Leonists 
and  the  poor  men  of  Lyons,  from  the  Albigenses,  sets  down 
moreover  all  their  errors,  reducing  them  to  these  three  heads  : 
against  the  Church,  against  the  Sacraments  and  Saints,  and 
against  Church  Ceremonies. "I*  But  so  far  from  any  thing  ap- 
pearing in  all  these  articles  against  transubstantiation,  you  there 
find  expressly,  amongst  their  errors,  that  "  transubstantiation 
ought  to  be  made  in  the  vulgar  tongue ;  that  a  priest  could  not 
consecrate  in  mortal  sin  ;"  that  when  a  man  communicated  from 
the  hand  of  an  unworthy  priest,  the  transubstantiation  was  not 
made  in  his  hand  that  consecrated  unworthily,  but  in  the  moute 
of  him  who  worthily  received  the  Eucharist ;  that  one  might 
consecrate  at  table,  at  common  meals,  and  not  in  churches  only, 
conformably  to  those  words  of  Malachi,  "  In  every  place  there 
is  sacrificing,  and  there  is  offered  to  my  name  a  clean  oblation:" J 
which  shows,  they  did  not  deny  the  sacrifice  nor  the  oblation  of 
the  Eucharist :  and  that,  if  they  rejected  the  Mass,  it  was  on 
account  of  the  ceremonies,  making  it  only  to  consist  in  "  the 
words  of  Jesus  Christ  pronounced  in  the  vulgar  tongue. "§ 
Thence  it  clearly  appears,  that  they  admitted  transubstantiation, 
and  in  notliing  differed  from  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  as  to  the 
substance  of  this  sacrament ;  but  said  only,  that  it  could  not  be 

*  Cone.  Tarrac  t.  xi.  Cone.  part.  J.  An.  1242.  p.  593.  f  R-en.  c.  v.  T.  iv, 
Bib.  PP.  part  iL  p.  749.    Ibid.  750.        J  Malach.  111.        §  Ren.  Ibid. 


88  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

consecrated  by  bad  priests,  and  might  be  by  good  laymen,  ac- 
cording to  these  fundamental  maxims  of  their  sect,  which  Renier 
is  always  exact  in  observing,  "  that  every  good  layman  is  a 
priest,  and  the  prayer  of  an  evil  priest  availed  nothing  :"*  whence 
also  they  concluded,  the  consecration  by  an  evil  priest  is  worth 
nothing.  It  is  likewise  to  be  seen  in  other  authors,  that  ac- 
cording to  their  principles,"!*  "  a  man,  without  being  a  priest, 
might  consecrate  and  administer  the  sacrament  of  penance ;  and 
every  laic,  even  women,  ought  to  preach." 

94. — A  list  of  the  Vaudois  errors. 

We  find  also  in  the  catalogue  of  their  errors,  as  well  in  Renier 
as  other  authors,  "  that  it  is  not  lawful  for  clergymen,"  namely, 
the  ministers  of  the  Church,J  "  to  have  goods  ;  that  neither 
lands,  nor  people,  ought  to  be  divided  ;"  which  aims  at  the  obli- 
gation of  setting  all  in  common,  and  establishing,  as  necessary, 
this  pretended  apostolic  poverty,  which  these  heretics  gloried 
in;§  "that  every  oath  is  a  mortal  sin;  that  all  princes  and 
judges  are  damned,  because  they  condemn  malefactors  contrary 
to  these  words :  }j  '  Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  ;'  and 
again,  '  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harv^est.'  "IT  Thus  did 
these  hypocrites  abuse  the  Scripture,  and  with  their  counterfeited 
lenity  subvert  the  whole  foundation  of  Church  and  State. 

95. — Another  list,  and  no  mention  of  their  erring  in  regard  of  the  Eucharist. 

We  find  in  Pylicdorf,  a  hundred  years  after,  an  ample  refuta- 
tion of  the  Yaudois,  article  by  article,  without  appearance  of  the 
least  opposition  in  their  doctrine  to  the  Real  Presence  or  tran- 
substantiation.  On  the  contrary,  it  alwa3'-s  appears  in  this  author, 
as  in  the  rest,  that  the  laymen  of  this  sect  made  the  body  of 
Jesus  Christ,**  although  with  fear  and  reserve  in  the  country 
wherein  he  wrote  ;  nor,  in  short,  does  he  observe  any  kind  of 
error  in  these  heretics  relating  to  the  Eucharist,  except,  that  bad 
priests  did  not  make  it  "  any  more  than  the  other  Sacraments." 

96. — Another  list. 

Finally,  in  all  the  lists  we  have  of  their  errors,  whether  in  the 
Bibliotheca  Patrum,||  or  in  the  Inquisitor  Eraerick,  we  meet  with 
nothing  against  the  Real  Presence,  although  the  least  differences 
between  these  heretics  and  us,  the  minutest  articles  whereon 
they  are  to  be  interrogated,  be  there  specified  ;  on  the  contrary, 
Emerick  the  Inquisitor  thus  reports  their  error  on  the  Eucharist: 
"  They  will  have  it  that  the  bread  is  not  transubstantiated  into 

*  Ren.  p.  751.  f  Fragm.  Pylicd.  Ibid.  817.  Ren.  Ibid.  p.  751. 

t  Ren.  p.  750.  Ibid.  err.  820.       §  Ibid.  p.  752.       ||  Ind.  err.  Ibid.  831. 9. 23. 
IT  Rom.  xii.  19.  Matt.  xiii.  30.     **  Pylicd.  cont  Wald.  T.  iv.  Bib.  PP. part 
ii.  778,  et  seq.  An.  1395.  Ibid,  c.  xxx.  p.  803.  Ibid.  c.  i.  Ibid.  c.  xvi.  xviij. 
tt  Bid.  PP.  t  iv.  part  ii.  p.  820,  832,  836. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  89 

the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  if  the  priest  be  a  sinner  :"*  which 
clearly  evidences  two  things  ;  first,  that  they  beheved  transub- 
stantiation ;  and  secondly,  believed  the  sacraments  depended 
on  the  sanctity  of  the  ministers. 

You  find  in  the  same  list  all  the  errors  of  the  Vaudois  we 
have  already  mentioned.  The  errors  of  the  new  Manicheans, 
whom  we  have  shown  were  the  same  with  those  of  the  Albi- 
genses,  are  also  related  apart  in  the  same  book.  It  is  plain 
from  thence,  that  these  two  sects  are  utterly  distinct,  nor  is 
there  any  thing  amongst  the  errors  of  the  Vaudois  that  savors 
of  Manicheism,  which  the  other  list  abounds  with. 

97. — Demonstration  that  the  Vaudois  did  not  in  the  least  err  about  Transub- 

stanliation. 

But  to  return  to  Transubstantiation  :  whence  could  it  proceed, 
that  the  Catholics  should  have  spared  the  Vaudois  in  a  point  of 
so  essential  a  nature,  they  who  were  so  zealous  in  exposing  even 
the  least  of  their  errors  ?"|'  Was  it  perchance  that  these  matters, 
and  especially  that  of  the  Eucharist,  were  not  of  sufficient  im- 
portance, or  not  sufficiently  known,  after  Berengarius's  con- 
demnation by  so  many  councils  ?  Was  it  the  desire  of  keeping 
the  people  ignorant  that  this  mystery  was  attacked  ?  But  they 
were  not  afraid  to  report  the  much  greater  blasphemies  of  the 
Albigenses,  even  against  this  mystery.  Nothing  was  concealed 
from  the  people  of  what  the  Vaudois  said,  the  most  shocking 
against  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  that  she  was  "  the  harlot  men- 
tioned in  the  Revelations  ;  her  Pope,  the  chief  of  those  that 
erred  ;  her  prelates  and  reUgious,  scribes  and  pharisees."  Their 
excesses  were  pitied,  but  never  kept  private  ;  and  had  they  re- 
jected the  Church's  faith  in  regard  of  the  Eucharist,  they  would 
have  been  upbraided  with  it. 

98. — Sequel  of  the  same  demonstration. — Testimony  of  Claude  Seyssel  in  1517. 
— Gross  evasion  of  D^Jluhertin. 

Further,  in  the  last  age,  in  1517.      Claude  Seyssel, J  famous 

for  his  learning  and  offices  of  trust,  held  under  Louis  XII  and 

Francis  I,  and  raised  by  his  merit  to  the  Archbishopric  of  Turin ; 

in  the  search  he  made  after  these  heretics,  hidden  in  the  valleys 

of  his  diocese,  in  order  to  unite  them  to  his  flock,  relates  in  the 

minutest  manner  all  their  errors,  like  a  faithful  shepherd  willing 

to  know  the  bottom  of  the  distemper  afflicting  his  eheep,  that 

he  might  heal  them  ;  and  we  read  in  his  account  all  that  other 

writers  relate  of  them,  neither  more  nor  less.     With  them  he 

chiefly  observes,  as  the  source  of  their  error,  that  "  they  made 

the  authority  of  ecclesiastical  ministry  to  depend  on  personal 

merit ;  thence  concluding,  that  they  ought  not  to  obey  the  Pope, 

*  Director,  part  ii.  q.  14.  p.  279.  Ibid.  p.  xiii.  p.  273.  f  Rtn.  c.  iv.  Ibid. 

750.  Emeric  Ibid.  X  Adv.  error.  Wald.  purt.  An.  1520.  C  i.  etseq.  Ibid.  f.  10. 1 1. 
VOL.  II.  8* 


90  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

nor  Bishops,  because  being  wicked,  and  not  imitating  the  lives 
of  the  apostles,  they  have  no  authority  from  God,  either  to  con- 
secrate, or  absolve  ;  and  as  to  themselves,  they  alone  had  this 
power,  because  they  observed  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  the 
Church  was  no  where  but  amongst  them,  and  the  See  of  Rome 
was  that  harlot  of  the  Revelations,  and  the  fountain-head  of  all 
errors."  This  is  what  that  great  Archbishop  says  of  the  Vaudois 
in  his  diocese.  The  minister  Aubertin*  is  astonished  that  in  so 
exact  an  account  as  he  gives  of  their  errors,  it  is  not  discovered, 
that  they  rejected  either  the  Real  Presence  or  Transubstantia- 
tion  ;  nor  any  other  reply  can  he  make  to  it,  than  that  this  pre- 
late, who  had  so  strenuously  confuted  them  in  all  other  points, 
was,  in  this,  conscious  of  his  too  great  weakness  to  resist  them  : 
as  if  so  learned  and  eloquent  a  man  could  not  at  least  transcribe 
what  so  many  other  learned  Catholics  had  written  on  this  sub- 
ject. Instead,  therefore,  of  so  miserable  a  shift,  Aubertin  ought 
to  have  acknowledged,  that  if  so  accurate,  so  knowing  a  person, 
did  not  reproach  the  Vaudois  with  this  error,  it  was  in  reality 
because  he  had  discovered  none  such  amongst  them  :  wherein 
there  is  nothing  particular  as  to  Seyssel,  since  all  the  other  au- 
thors have  no  more  accused  them  of  it  than  this  Archbishop. 

99. — Jlubertiii's  vain  objection. 

Nevertheless,  Aubertin  triumphs  at  a  passage  of  the  same 
Seyssel,  where  he  says,|  "  lie  did  not  think  it  worth  his  while 
to  relate  what  some  of  that  sect,  to  show  themselves  more 
learned  than  the  rest,  prattled,  or  rallied,  rather  than  discoursed, 
concerning  the  substance  and  truth  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacra- 
ment, because,  what  they  vented  by  way  of  secret,  was  so  high, 
that  the  most  expert  divines  could  scarcely  comprehend  it." 
But  so  far  are  these  words  of  Seyssel  from  showing  the  Real 
Presence  was  denied  by  the  Yaudois,  that  I  should,  on  the  con- 
trary, conclude  from  them,  that  some  amongst  them  pretended  to 
subtilize  in  expounding  it.  And  should  it  be  allowed  (yet  gra- 
tuitously and  without  any  kind  of  reason,  since  Seyssel  speaks 
not  a  word  of  it)  that  these  high  notions  entertained  by  the  Vau- 
dois, relating  to  the  Eucharist,  regarded  the  real  absence,  to  wit, 
a  thing  the  least  sublime  of  any  in  the  world,  and  the  most  suited 
to  carnal  sense  ;  yet  then,  it  is  nevertheless  manifest  that  Seys- 
sel does  not  report  here  the  belief  of  all,  but  the  babble  and  idle 
discourse  of  some  :  so  that,  on  all  hands,  nothing  is  more  cer- 
tain than  what  I  have  advanced,  that  the  Vaudois  never  were 
reproached  with  rejecting  transubstantiation ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, had  always  been  supposed  to  believe  it. 

*  Lib.  iii.  de  Sacr.  Eiich.  p.  936.  Col.  2.  Ibid.  987. 
\  FoL  55, 56. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  91 

100. — Another  proof  from  Seyssel  that  the  Vaudois  believed  Transiibstantlatmi. 

Accordingly  the  same  Seyssel,*  introducing  a  Vaudois  sum- 
ming up  all  his  reasons,  puts  these  words  into  his  mouth  against 
a  wicked  priest  and  bishop  :  "  How  can  the  bishop  and  priest, 
enemies  to  God,  render  God  propitious  to  others  1  how  can  he, 
that  is  banished  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  have  the  keys  of  it  ? 
in  fine,  since  his  prayer  and  other  actions  have  no  manner  of 
effect,  how  shall  Jesus  Christ  transform  himself,  at  his  word, 
under  the  species  of  bread  and  wine,  and  suffer  himself  to  be 
handled  by  that  person,  who  has  utterly  rejected  him?"  It  is 
then  still  manifest,  their  en-or  consists  in  a  Donatism,  and  nothing 
but  a  priest's  life  hinders  the  bread  and  wine  from  being  changed 
into  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 

101.' — Interrogatory  of  the  Vaudois  in  the  library  of  the  Marquis  of  Seignelay. — 
Two  Volumes  marked  1769,  1770. 

And  what  leaves  no  kind  of  doubt  on  this  head  is,  v/hat  may 
be  seen  still  at  this  day  among  the  manuscripts  of  M.  de  Thou, 
collected  together  in  the  valuable  library  of  the  Marquis  of 
Seignelay  ;  there,  I  say,  may  be  seen  the  inquests,  in  the  ori- 
ginal, juridically  made  against  the  Vaudois  of  Pragelas  and  the 
other  valleys  in  1495,  collected  in  two  great  volumes  ;  wherein 
you  have  the  examination  of  one  Thomas  Quoti  of  Pragelas, 
v/ho  being  asked  whether  the  barbes  (their  priests)  taught  them 
to  believe  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  answers, "  That  the  barbes 
both  preach  and  teach  that  when  a  chaplain  who  is  in  orders, 
utters  the  words  of  consecration  on  the  altar,  he  consecrates  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  a  true  change  is  wrought  of  the 
bread  into  the  true  body,"  and  says  moreover,  "  that  prayer 
made  at  home,  or  on  the  road,  is  every  whit  as  good  as  in  the 
church."  Conformably  to  this  doctrine,  the  same  Quoti  answers 
at  two  several  times,  "  That  he  received  every  year,  at  Easter, 
the  body  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  barbes  taught  them,  that,  in 
order  to  receive  it,  they  ought  to  have  been  well  confessed,  and 
rather  hy  the  barbes  than  by  the  chaplains,"  meaning  the  priests. 
102. — Seqxiel  of  the  same  Examination. 

The  reason  of  this  preference  is  derived  from  the  so  often 
repeated  principles  of  the  Vaudois  ;  and  it  is  pursuant  to  these 
principles  the  same  person  answers,  *'  that  the  gentlemen  of  the 
church-ministry  led  a  life  too  large,  but  the  barbes  led  a  holy 
and  upright  life."  And  in  another  answer,  "  that  the  barbes  led 
the  life  of  St.  Peter,  and  had  the  power  of  absolving  from  sins, 
and  this  Avas  his  belief;  and  if  the  Pope  did  not  lead  a  holy  life, 
he  had  no  power  of  absolving."  For  this  reason,  the  same 
Quoti  answers  again  in  another  place, "  that  he  had  given  credit, 

*  F.  13. 


92  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

without  any  doubting,  rather  to  the  discourses  of  the  barbes  than 
to  those  of  the  chaplains,  because,  in  those  times,  no  ecclesiastic, 
no  cardinal,  no  bishop,  nor  priest,  led  the  life  of  the  apostles ; 
and,  therefore,  it  was  better  believing  the  barbes  who  were  good, 
than  an  ecclesiastic  that  was  not  so." 

103.— Sequel. 

It  were  superfluous  to  relate  the  other  examinations,  the  same 
language  appearing  throughout,  as  well  in  respect  of  the  Real 
Presence  as  of  all  the  rest ;  and  especially  it  is  repeated  there 
continually,  "  that  the  barbes  behaved  in  the  world  like  the  im- 
itators of  Jesus  Christ,  and  had  more  power  than  the  priests  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  who  lived  too  much  at  large." 
104. — J^ecessity  of  Confession. 

Nothing  is  repeated  there  so  much  as  these  dogmas,  "  That  it 
was  necessary  to  confess  their  sins  ;  that  they  confessed  to  the 
barbes,  who  had  power  of  absolving  them  ;  that  they  confessed 
kneeling ;  that  at  each  confession  they  gave  a  quart  (a  certain 
piece  of  money;)  that  the  barbes  imposed  penances  on  them 
which  generally  did  not  exceed  a  Pater  and  Credo,  but  the  Ave 
Maria  was  never  enjoined ;  that  they  forbade  them  all  oaths  what- 
soever, and  taught  them  neither  to  sue  for  help  from  the  saints, 
nor  to  pray  for  the  dead."  Here  is  enough  whereby  to  discover 
the  principle  tenets  and  genius  of  the  sect ;  further  than  this,  to 
expect  to  meet  with  order  and  one  constant  form  in  such  odd 
opinions,  in  all  times  and  all  places,  were  to  be  deceived. 

105. — Sequel  of  the  same  Subject. 

I  do  not  find  they  were  interrogated  concerning  sacraments 
administered  by  the  generality  of  laymen,  whether  because  the 
inquisitors  were  not  apprized  of  this  custom,  or  that  the  Vaudois 
had  at  length  forsaken  it.*  And,  indeed,  we  have  observed,  it 
was  not  without  difficulty  and  contradiction  first  introduced 
amongst  them  with  regard  to  the  Eucharist.  But,  as  for  con- 
fession, nothing  is  more  established  in  the  sect,  than  the  right 
good  laymen  have  to  it ;  "A  good  layman,"  said  they,  "  has 
power  to  absolve  ;  they  all  gloried  in  forgiving  sins  by  imposi- 
tion of  hands  ;  they  heard  confessions  ;  enjoined  penances  ; 
and  lest  such  an  extraordinary  practice  should  be  discovered, 
they  very  privately  received  confessions,  and  those  of  women 
even,  in  cellars,  in  caverns,  and  other  unfrequented  places ; 
they  preached  clandestinely  in  corners  of  houses,  and  often  in 
the  night-time." 

106. — The  Vaudois  exteriorly  did  the  Duties  of  Catholics. 

But  what  cannot  be  too  much  remarked  is,  that  although  they 

*  Pylicd.  c.  i.  T.  iv.  Bib.  PP.  part  ii.  p.  780.  Tnd.  Err.  Ibid.  p.  832.  N.  12. 
Ren.  Ibid.  750.     Pylicd.  Ibid.  c.  i.  p.  780.     Ibid.  c.  viii.  p.  782.  820. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  93 

had  such  an  opinion  of  us  as  we  have  seen,  yet  they  frequented 
our  assembhes  :  "  There  they  offer,"  says  Renier,*  "  there  they 
confess,  there  they  communicate,  but  with  dissimulation."  The 
reason  was,  in  short,  whatever  they  might  say,!  because  "  some 
distrust  remained  in  them  of  the  communion  they  practised 
among  themselves."  Wherefore,  "  they  came  to  communicate 
in  the  church  when  the  throng  was  greatest,  for  fear  of  discov- 
ery. Many  also  remained  even  four,  nay,  six  years,  without 
communicating,  concealing  themselves  either  in  villages,  or 
towns,  at  Easter  time,  lest  notice  should  be  taken  of  them. 
They  also  judged  it  advisable  to  communicate  in  the  church, 
but  at  Easter  only,  and,  under  this  appearance,  they  passed  for 
Christains."  This  is  what  the  ancient  authors  say  of  them,J 
and  what  also  frequently  may  be  found  in  the  interrogatories 
abovjp  mentioned.  "  Being  asked  whether  he  made  his  con- 
fession to  the  parish  priest,  and  discovered  his  sect  to  him,  his 
answer  was,  that  he  confessed  yearly  to  him,  but  did  not  men- 
tion his  being  a  Vaudois,  which  the  barbes  had  forbid  discover- 
ing." They  answer  also  as  above,  "  that  every  year  they  com- 
municated at  Easter,  and  received  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  that  the  barbes  warned  them  of  the  necessity,  before  they 
received,  of  having  made  a  good  confession."  Observe,  there 
is  no  mention  here  made  but  of  the  body  alone,  and  of  one 
only  species  ;  as,  since  the  Council  of  Constance,  it  was  then 
given  over  all  the  Church,  the  barbes  never  thinking  all  this 
while  of  condemning  it.  An  old  author§  has  observed,  "  They 
very  rarely  received  from  their  teachers  either  baptism  or  Christ's 
body,  but  as  well  teachers  as  simple  believers  went  to  seek 
them  at  the  priest's  hands."  Nor,  indeed,  do  we  conceive  how 
they  could  have  acted  otherwise,  in  regard  to  baptism,  without 
discovering  themselves,  for  it  would  soon  have  been  taken  no- 
tice of,  had  they  not  brought  their  children  to  church,  for  wliich 
they  would  have  been  called  to  an  account.  Thus,  separated 
in  sentiments  from  the  Catholic  Church,  these  hypocrites,  as  far 
as  they  were  able,  shewed  themselves  externally  of  tlie  same 
faith  with  others,  and  exhibited  no  act  of  religion  in  pubhc  wiiich 
did  not  belie  their  doctrine. 

107. — Whether  the  Vaudois  had  discarded  any  one  of  the  Seven  Sacraments. — 

Confirmation. 

The  Protestants  may  perceive  by  this  example  what  kind  of 

men  those  hidden  faithful  before  the  Reformation  were,  whom 

they  extol  so  much,  and  who  had  not  bent  a  knee  to  Baal.     It 

might  be  doubted  whether  the  Yaudois  had  discarded  any  of  the 

*  Ren.  Ibid,  c  v.  p.  752.    Ibid.  vii.  p.  765.  f  Ind.  Err.  N.  12,  13. 

Ibid.  p.  832.  \  Pylicd.  c.  xxv.  Ibid.  796.  Interrogat.  of  Gtuoti  and  others. 
Ibid.  §  Pylicd.  Ibid.  c.  xxiv.  p.  796. 


94  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

Seven  Sacraments.  And  it  is  already  manifest,  they  were  not 
accused  of  denying  so  much  as  one  at  the  beginning ;  on  the 
contrary,  an  author  has  been  produced,  who,  upbraiding  them 
with  their  changes,  excepts  the  sacraments.  Those,  Renier 
speaks  of,*  might  be  suspected  of  varying  in  this  matter,  he 
seeming  to  say,  they  rejected  not  only  orders,  but  also  con- 
firmation and  extreme  unction ;  but  it  is  manifest,  he  means 
such  only  as  Catholics  conferred.  For,  as  to  confirmation, 
Renier,  who  makes  them  reject  it,  adds,  "  They  were  aston- 
ished we  permitted  none  but  bishops  to  confer  it :"  for  this 
reason,  because  they  were  for  allowing  to  good  laymen  the 
power  of  administering  this  as  well  as  the  other  sacraments. 
Wherefore  these  same  heretics,  mentioned  as  rejecting  confirm- 
ation, boast,  a  little  after,  "  of  giving  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  laying 
on  of  hands  ;"|  which  is,  in  other  words,  the  very  substance  of 
this  sacrament. 

108. — Extreme  Unction. 
In  regard  to  extreme  unction,  this  is  what  Renier  says  of  it :  J 
"  They  reject  the  sacrament  of  unction,  as  if  given  to  the  rich 
only,  and  because  many  priests  are  necessary  thereto  ;"  words, 
which  sufficiently  evince  that  its  nullity,  which  they  pretended 
was  amongst  us,  proceeded  from  imaginary  abuses,  not  from 
the  nature  of  the  thing.  Besides,  St.  James§  having  enjoined 
to  call  in  the  priests  in  the  plural  number,  these  cavillers  were 
for  believing  that  unction,  given  by  a  single  person,  as  com- 
monly practised  amongst  us  even  so  long  ago,  was  not  suffi- 
cient, and  this  bad  pretext  served  for  their  neglecting  it. 

109. — What  loas  the  Ahhdion  Renier  speaks  of  in  Baptism. 
As  for  baptism,  notwithstanding  these  ignorant  heretics  had 
cast  off  its  most  ancient  ceremonies  with  contempt,  there  is  no 
doubt  but  they  received  it.  One  might  only  be  surprised  at 
Renier's  words, ||  as  uttered  by  the  Vaudois,  "that  ablution, 
given  to  children,  is  of  no  advantage  to  them."  But,  whereas 
this  ablution  is  in  the  list  of  those  ceremonies  of  baptism,  which 
were  disapproved  by  these  heretics,  it  is  plain,  he  speaks  of  the 
wine  given  to  children  after  their  baptism  ;  a  custom  that  may 
be  still  seen  in  many  ancient  rituals,  about  that  time,  and  which 
was  a  remnant  of  the  communion  heretofore  administered  to  them 
under  the  liquid  species  only.  This  wine,  put  into  the  chalice 
to  be  given  to  these  children,  was  called  ablution,  because  this 
action  resembled  the  ablution  taken  by  the  priest  at  Mass.  Again, 
this  word  ablution  is  not  to  be  found  in  Renier  as  signifying 
baptism  ;  and,  at  all  events,  if  men  will  persist  to  have  it  signify 
this  sacrament,  all  they  could  conclude  from  it  would  be  for  the 

+  C.  v.  pp.  750,  751.       t  Ibid.  751.      J  P.  751.      §  Ch.  v.  14.      |1  P.  751 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  95 

worst,  viz.,  that  Renier's  Vaudois  accounted  as  null  whatever 
baptism  was  given  by  unworthy  ministers,  such  as  they  believed 
all  our  priests  were ;  an  error  so  conformable  to  the  principles  of 
the  sect,  that  the  Vaudois,  whom  we  have  seen  approve  our  bap- 
tism could  not  do  itwithout  running  counter  to  their  own  doctrine, 

1 10. — Confession. 
Here,  then,  already  are  three  sacraments,  which  the  Vaudois 
approved  in  the  main,  Baptism,  Confirmation,  and  Extreme 
Unction.  We  have  the  whole  sacrament  of  penance  in  their 
private  confession,  in  the  penances  imposed  by  them,  in  the  ab- 
solution received  for  the  remission  of  sins  ;  and  if  they  said, 
oral  confession  was  not  always  necessary  when  contrition  was 
in  the  heart ;  they  said  true,  in  the  main  and  in  certain  cases, 
although  frequently,  as  above  instanced,  they  abused  this  maxim 
by  too  long  deferring  their  confession. 

1 11. — The  Eucharist, 

There  was  a  sect  called  the  Siscidenses,  who  differed  little  or 
nothing  from  the  Vaudois,  says  Renier,  but  in  that  they  received 
the  Eucharist.  Not  that  he  meant  the  Vaudois,  or  poor  men 
of  Lyons,  did  not  receive  it,  he  having  shown,  on  the  contrary, 
that  they  received  even  transubstantiation  ;  but  he  means  only, 
they  had  an  extreme  repugnance  to  receive  it  from  the  hands 
of  our  priests,  whereas  these  others  made  less  difficulty  in  it,  or 
perchance,  none  at  all. 

112. — Marriage. — Whether  Reiner  hath  calumniated  the  Vaudois, 

Protestants  accuse  Renier  of  calumniating  the  Vaudois,  by 
reproaching  them,  "  that  they  condemned  marriage  ;"  but  these 
authors  mutilate  his  words,*  which  here  you  have  entire : 
"  They  condemn  the  sacrament  of  marriage,  by  saying,  mar- 
ried people  sin  mortally  when  they  use  marriage  for  any  other 
end  than  to  have  children  ;"  whereby  Renier  would  observe  only 
the  error  of  these  proud  heretics,  who,  to  show  themselves  above 
human  infirmity,  would  not  admit  the  secondary  end  of  marriage, 
namely,  its  serving  as  a  remedy  against  concupiscence.  It  was 
then  in  this  respect  only  that  he  accused  these  heretics  of  con- 
demning marriage,  to  wit,  of  condemning  this  necessary  part, 
and  making  that  a  mortal  sin,  which  the  grace  of  so  holy  a  state 
renders  pardonable. 

113. — Demonstration  that  the  Catholics  were  neither  ignorant  of ,n(yr  dissembled^ 
the  doctrine  of  the  Vaudois. 

It  is  now  seen  what  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Vaudois  or  poor 

men  of  Lyons.     The  Catholics  cannot  be  accused,  either  of 

not  knowing  it,  since  they  dwelt  and  conversed  amongst  them, 

and  daily  received  their  abjurations  ;  or,  of  neglecting  to  inform 

*  C.  iv.  p.  751. 


96  THE  HISTORY  OF  [bOOK 

themselves,  since,  on  the  contrary,  they  applied  themselves  with 
so  much  care  to  report  its  minutest  points  ;  or,  in  fine,  of  ca- 
lumniating them,  since  we  have  seen  they  were  so  exact,  not 
only  in  distinguishing  the  Vaudois  from  the  Cathari  and  the  rest 
of  the  Manicheans,  but  also  in  acquainting  us  with  all  the  cor- 
rectives applied  by  some  of  them  to  the  extravagances  of  others ; 
and,  in  a  word,  of  relating  to  us  with  so  much  sincerity  what 
was  commendable  in  their  manners,  that  their  partisans  even 
now-a-days  take  advantage  from  it.  For  we  have  seen,  they 
did  not  dissemble  the  specious  appearances  at  Waldo's  first  set- 
ting out,  nor  the  first  simpUcity  of  his  followers.  Renier,*  who 
so  much  blames  them,  hesitates  not  to  say,  "  that  they  lived 
justly  before  men ;  that  they  believed  of  God  what  was  fitting 
to  believe,  and  all  that  was  contained  in  the  creed  ;"  that  they 
were  regular  in  their  deportment,  modest  in  their  dress,  just  in 
their  dealings,  chaste  in  their  marriages,  abstemious  in  their  diet, 
and  so  of  the  rest,  as  it  is  well  known.  We  shall  have  a  word 
to  say  on  this  testimony  of  Renier ;  but,  in  the  interim,  we  see 
he  rather  flatters,  as  I  may  say,  than  calumniates  the  Vaudois ; 
and,  therefore,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  what  he  says  besides 
of  these  heretics  is  true.  And  though  we  should  suppose  with 
the  ministers,  that  Catholic  authors,  urged  on  by  the  hatred  they 
had  conceived  against  them,  charged  them  with  calumnies  ;  this 
is  a  new  proof  of  what  we  have  but  just  said  concerning  their 
doctrine,  because  finally,  had  the  Vaudois  stood  in  opposition  to 
trans ubstantiation  and  the  adoration  of  the  Eucharist,  at  a  time 
when  our  adversaries  agree  it  was  so  well  estabhshed  amongst 
us,  the  Catholics,  whom  they  represent  so  inclined  to  load  them 
with  false  crimes,  would  never  have  failed  reproaching  them 
with  what  was  so  true. 

114. — Division  of  the  Vaudois  doctrine  into  three  heads. 
Now  then  that  we  know  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Vaudois, 
we  may  divide  it  into  three  sorts  of  articles.  Some  there  are 
which  we  detest  together  with  the  Protestants  :  some  that  we 
approve,  and  Protestants  reject :  others  that  they  approv^e,  and 
we  condemn. 

115. — Doctrine  which  the  Protestants  as  xoell  as  the  Catholics  reject  in  the 

Vaudois. 

The  articles  we  condemn  in  common  are,  in  the  first  place, 
that  doctrine  so  injurious  to  the  Sacraments,  which  makes  their 
vahdity  depend  on  the  holiness  of  their  ministers  ;  secondly,  that 
of  rendering  the  administration  of  the  Sacraments  common  to 
priests  and  laity  without  distinction ;  next,  that  of  forbidding 
oaths  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  thereby  condemning  not  only  St. 
Paul  the  Apostle,!  but  even  God  himself  who  has  sworn  :  lastly, 

*  C.  iv.  p.  749.  Ibid.  vii.  p.  765.     f  Heb.  vi.  pp.  13,  16,  17  ;  and  vii.  21. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  97 

that  of  condemning  the  just  punishments  of  malefactors,  and 
authorizing  all  crimes  by  impunity. 

116. — Doctrine  which  the  Catholics  approve  in  the  Vaudois,  and  Protestants 

condemn. 

The  articles  which  we  approve,  and  the  Protestants  reject,  are 
that  of  the  Seven  Sacraments,  except,  perchance.  Orders,  and  in 
the  manner  above  spoken  to,  and  what  is  still  more  important, 
that  of  the  Real  Presence  and  Transubstantiation.  So  many 
articles  which  the  Protestants  detest  either  with  us,  or,  contrary 
to  our  sentiments,  in  the  Vaudois,  pass  under  the  cover  of  five 
or  six  points,  wherein  these  same  Vaudois  favor  them  ;  and  not- 
withstanding their  hypocrisy  and  aU  their  errors,  these  heretics 
are  made  to  be  their  ancestors. 
117. — The  Vaudois  have  changed  their  Doctrine  since  Luther*sand  Calvin"* s  time. 

Such  was  the  state  of  this  sect  till  the  time  of  the  new  Ref- 
ormation. Although  this  made  so  much  noise  ever  since  the 
year  1517,  the  Vaudois,  whom  we  have  seen  till  that  date  abiding 
in  all  the  sentiments  of  their  ancestors,  still  remained  unaltered. 
At  length  in  1630,  after  much  suifering,  whether  solicited  to  it, 
or  taking  it  into  their  heads  of  themselves,  they  thought  fit  to 
make  them  their  protectors,  whom  like  themselves  they  had 
heard  exclaim  against  the  Pope  so  many  years.  Those  who 
had  withdrawn  for  nearly  two  hundred  years,  as  Seyssel*  re- 
marks, into  the  mountains  of  Savoy  and  Dauphiny,  consulted 
Bucer  and  the  Swiss,  their  neighbors.  With  much  commenda- 
tion which  they  received,  Gilles,|  one  of  their  historians,  ac- 
quaints us,  they  received  also  admonitions  concerning  three  de- 
fects observed  amongst  them.  The  first  related  to  the  decision 
of  certain  points  of  doctrine ;  the  second,  to  the  estabhshment 
of  the  order  of  discipline  and  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  to  the 
end  they  might  be  held  more  openly :  the  third  invited  them, 
no  longer  to  permit  those  that  desired  to  be  accounted  members 
of  their  Churches,  to  be  present  at  Mass,  or  to  adhere,  in  any 
kind,  to  papal  superstitions,  or  to  acknowledge  the  priests  of  the 
Roman  Church  for  pastors,  or  to  make  use  of  their  ministry. 
1 18. — iN'exo  Articles  proposed  to  the  Vaudois  by  the  Protestants. 

There  needs  no  more  to  confirm  every  thing  we  have  said, 
concerning  the  state  of  these  wretched  Churches,  which  con- 
cealed their  faith  and  worship  under  a  contrary  profession.  On 
these  advertisements  of  Bucer  and  (Ecolampadius,  the  same 
Gilles  assures  us,  new  articles  were  proposed  to  the  Vaudois. 
He  owns  he  does  not  report  them  all :  but  here  are  five  or  six 
of  such  as  he  specifies,  which  sufficiently  discover  the  ancient 
spirit  of  the  sect.     For  in  order  to  reform  the  Vaudois  to  the 

*  F.  2.  t  Hist  Eccl.  des.  Egl.  Re£  de  Pier.  Gilles,  c.  v. 

VOL.    II.  9 


98  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

Protestant  mode,  it  was  necessary  to  make  them  say,*  "  that  a 
Christian  may  swear  lawfully  ;  that  auricular  confession  is  not 
commanded  of  God  ;  that  a  Christian  may  lawfully  exercise  the 
office  of  magistrate  over  other  Christians  ;  that  there  is  no  de- 
termined time  for  fasting  ;  that  the  minister  may  possess  some- 
thing in  particular  wherewith  to  maintain  his  family,  without 
prejudice  to  apostolic  community ;  that  Jesus  Christ  has  ap- 
pointed but  two  Sacraments,  Baptism  and  the  holy  Eucharist." 
Hereby  appears  a  part  of  what  was  necessarily  to  be  reformed 
in  the  Vaudois,  in  order  to  make  them  Zuinglians  or  Calvinists, 
and,  amongst  the  rest,  one  of  the  corrections  was,  to  admit  but 
two  Sacraments.  It  was  also  necessary  to  hint  to  them  a  word 
or  two  concerning  predestination,  which  assuredly  they  had 
heard  but  little  of;  and  they  were  informed  as  to  this  new  dogma, 
which  was  then  like  the  soul  of  the  Reformation,  that  whosoever 
owns  free-will  denies  predestination.  It  appears  by  these  same 
articles  that,  in  process  of  time,  the  Yaudois  had  fallen  into  new 
errors,  since  it  was  requisite  to  teach  them"]*  "  they  were  to  cease 
from  earthly  labors  on  the  Sabbath-day,  in  order  to  attend  God's 
service  ;"  and  again,  "  that  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  Christian  to 
revenge  himself  on  his  enemy."  These  two  articles  show  the 
brutality  and  barbarity,  which  these  Vaudois  Churches  (the  main 
support,  it  seems,  of  decayed  Christianity)  were  fallen  into,  at 
the  time  the  Protestants  reformed  them  :  and  this  confirms  what 
SeysselJ  says  of  them,  that  "  they  were  a  base  and  bestial  race 
of  men,  that  hardly  could  distinguish,  by  reason,  whether  they 
were  men  or  brutes,  alive  or  dead."  Such,  by  Gilles's  account, 
were  the  articles  of  reformation  proposed  to  the  Vaudois  towards 
incorporating  them  with  the  Protestants.  If  Gilles  mentioned 
no  more  of  them,  it  might  either  proceed  from  a  fear  of  exposing 
too  great  an  opposition  between  the  Vaudois  and  Calvinists, 
of  whom  the  design  then  was  to  make  but  one  communion,  or 
because  this  was  all  the  Vaudois  could  be  drawn  to  at  that  time. 
Be  that  as  it  will,  he  owns  nevertheless, §  they  could  not  come 
to  an  agreement,  because  some  of  the  barbes  were  of  opinion, 
that  by  assenting  to  all  these  conclusions,  they  should  dishonor 
the  memory  of  those  who  had  so  very  prosperously  conducted 
those  churches  to  that  time.  Thus,  it  is  manifest,  the  design 
of  the  Protestants  was  not  to  follow  the  Vaudois,  but  to  make 
them  change,  and  reform  to  their  fashion. 

119. — Conference  of  the  Vaudois  xoith  (Ecolampadius. 
During  this  negotiation  with  the  ministers  of  Strasburg  and 
Basil,  two  of  the  Vaudois  deputies  had  a  long  conference  with 
(Ecolampadius,  which  Abraham  Scultet,  a  Protestant  historian, 

*  Hist.  Eccl.  des  Egl.  Ref.  de  Pier,  Gilles,  c.  v.  f  Gilles,  c.  v. 

I  F.  38.  §  Gill.  Ibid.  c.  v. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  99 

relates  whole  and  entire  in  his  EvangeHcal  Annals,*  and  de- 
clares he  had  transcribed  it  word  for  word. 

One  of  the  deputies  opens  the  conversation,  by  owning  that 
the  ministers,  of  which  number  he  was  one,  "  being  prodigiously 
ignorant,  were  incapable  of  teaching  the  people  :  that  they  lived 
by  alms  and  labor,  poor  shepherds  or  husbandmen,  the  cause  of 
their  profound  ignorance  and  incapacity :  that  they  were  not 
married,  nor  lived  always  very  chastely ;  but  when  they  had 
been  caught  tripping,  they  were  expelled  the  company  of  the 
rest :  that  it  was  not  the  ministers,  but  the  priests  of  the  Roman 
Church  who  administered  the  Sacraments  to  the  Vaudois ;  but 
that  their  ministers  made  them  ask  pardon  of  God  for  receiving 
the  Sacraments  from  those  priests,  because  forced  to  it ;  more- 
over, they  admonished  them  not  to  adhere  to  the  ceremonies  of 
Antichrist :  that  they  practised  auricular  confession,  and,  till 
then,  had  always  owned  seven  Sacraments,  wherein,  they  heard 
it  said,  they  were  very  much  mistaken."  They  proceed  to  give 
an  account  of  how  they  rejected  the  Mass,  purgatory,  and  the 
invocation  of  saints,  and  in  order  to  clear  up  their  doubts,  they 
propose  the  following  queries  : — "  Whether  or  not  it  be  lawful 
for  magistrates  to  put  criminals  to  death,  by  reason  God  has 
said,  I  will  not  the  death  of  the  sinner  ?"  But  asked  at  the 
same  time,  "  If  it  were  not  allowable  in  them  to  kill  the  false 
brethren  who  informed  against  them  to  Catholics,  because,  they 
having  no  jurisdiction  amongst  them,  there  was  no  other  way  to 
keep  them  in  awe  :  whether  the  human  and  civil  laws,  by  which 
the  world  was  governed,  were  good,  the  Scripture  having  said, 
that  the  laws  of  men  are  vain  :  whether  churchmen  might  re- 
ceive donations  and  have  anything  of  their  own  :  whether  it  were 
lawful  to  swear :  whether  the  distinction  they  made  of  original, 
venial,  and  mortal  sin,  were  good  :  whether  all  children,  of 
whatsoever  nation,  be  saved  by  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
whether  the  adult,  of  whatsoever  religion,  not  having  faith,  may 
also  be  saved  ;  what  are  the  judiciary  and  ceremonial  precepts  of 
the  law  of  Moses :  and  whether  they  have  been  abolished  by  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  which  are  the  canonical  books."  After  all  these 
queries,  which  so  clearly  confirm  all  we  have  said  of  the  belief 
of  the  Vaudois,  and  the  brutal  ignorance  these  heretics  were  at 
last  fallen  into,  their  deputy  speaks  in  these  terms  : — "  Nothing 
has  so  much  disturbed  us,  weak  and  simple  as  we  are,  as  what 
I  have  read  in  Luther  concerning  free-will  and  predestination ; 
for  we  believe  all  men  have  naturally  some  power  and  strength, 
which,  excited  by  God,  might  do  something,  conformably  to 
those  words.  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock  ;  and  who- 
soever would  not  open,  should  receive  according  to  his  works : 
*  Ann.  Eccl.  decad.  2.     An.  1530,  a  p.  294,  ad  300.  Heidelb. 


100  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

but  if  the  thing  be  not  so,  I  do  not  see,  as  says  Erasmus,  of 
what  use  the  commandments  are.  As  for  predestination,  we 
believe  that  God  has  foreseen  from  all  eternity  those  that  were 
to  be  saved  or  damned,  and  that  he  had  made  all  men  in  order 
to  be  saved,  and  the  reprobate  become  such  through  their  own 
fault :  but  should  all  come  to  pass  of  necessity,  as  Luther  says, 
and  the  predestinated  not  have  it  in  their  power  to  turn  reprobate, 
nor  contrarywise,  to  what  end  so  much  preaching  and  so  much 
writing,  since,  everything  happening  by  necessity,  matters  never 
will  be  better  or  worse  ?"  Whatever  ignorance  may  appear 
throughout  this  discourse,  it  is  plain,  these  ignorant  people,  with 
all  their  rusticity,  spoke  better  than  those  they  had  chosen  for 
reformers  ;  and  here  are  the  men,  forsooth,  they  present  us  as 
the  remains  and  refuge  of  Christianity. 

We  find  nothing  here  in  particular  relating  to  the  Eucharist ; 
which  makes  it  likely,  that  the  whole  of  the  conference  was  not 
related  ;  nor  is  it  difficult  to  guess  the  reason.  It  was,  in  short, 
because  the  Yaudois  were,  as  above  seen,  greater  Papists  on 
this  head  than  the  Zuinglians  and  Lutherans  desired.  More- 
over, this  deputy  speaks  nothing  to  (Ecolampadius  of  any  Con- 
fession of  Faith  as  in  use  amongst  them  ;  and  we  have  already 
seen  that  even  Beza*  reports  none  but  that  which  the  Vaudois 
made  in  1641,  so  long  after  Luther  and  Calvin  :  which  shows 
manifestly,  that  the  Confessions  of  Faith  produced  by  them,  as 
of  the  ancient  Yaudois,  can  be  but  very  modern,  as  we  shall 
soon  discover. 

120. — The  Vaudois  nowise  Calvinists,  as  proved  from  Crespin. 

After  all  these  conferences  with  those  of  Strasburg  and  Basil 
in  1536,  Geneva  was  consulted  by  her  neighbors  the  Yaudois, 
and  then  it  v/as  that  their  society  with  the  Calvinists  commenced, 
by  the  instructions  of  Farel,  minister  of  Geneva.  But  we  need 
only  hear  the  Calvinists  themselves,  to  be  convinced  how  far 
remote  the  Yaudois  were  from  their  Reformation.  Crespin,|  in 
his  History  of  Martyrs,  says,  that  those  of  Angrogne,  by  a  long 
succession,  and  as  from  father  to  son,  had  retained  some  purity 
of  doctrine.  But  to  show  how  small,  even  in  their  estimate, 
was  this  purity  of  doctrine,  he  says  in  another  place,  J  speaking 
of  the  Yaudois  of  Merindol,  "  that  the  very  little  true  light  they 
had,  they  endeavored  to  increase  from  day  to  day,  by  despatch- 
ing people  on  all  sides,  even  to  a  great  distance  off,  wheresoever 
they  heard  some  ray  of  light  did  discover  itself."  And  he  agrees 
moreover  in  another  place, §  that  "  their  ministers,  who  taught 
them  in  private,  did  not  do  it  with  that  purity,  which  was  re- 
quisite ;  inasmuch  as  ignorance  having  overflowed  the  whole 

♦  Sleid.  1.  ii.  n.  4.  f  Hist,  des  Mart,  in  1536.  fi  111. 

+  In  1543.  f:  133.  §  In  1561,  £  532. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  101 

universe,  and  God  having  a  right  to  let  men  go  astray  as  he  did, 
like  brute  beasts,  it  is  no  wonder  these  poor  men  had  not  so 
pure  a  doctrine  as  they  have  since  enjoyed,  and  at  this  day  more 
than  ever."  These  last  words  show  the  pains  the  Calvinists 
were  at  since  the  year  1636,  to  lead  the  Vaudois  whither  they 
had  a  mind  ;  and  after  all,  it  is  but  too  manifest  that,  from  that 
time,  this  sect  is  not  to  be  looked  on  as  persisting  in  her  ancient 
doctrine,  but  as  reformed  by  the  Calvinists, 
121. — Proof  from  Beza, 

We  learn  as  much  from  Beza,*  though  with  a  Uttle  more  pre- 
caution, when  he  owns  in  his  description  of  them,  "  that  the 
purity  of  doctrine  was  somewhat  adulterated  by  the  Vaudois ;" 
and  in  his  history,  that  "  in  process  of  time,  they  had  somewhat 
swerved  from  piety  and  doctrine."  Afterwards  he  speaks  more 
openly,"!*  confessing  that  "  in  a  long  series  of  time  the  purity  of 
doctrine  had  been  greatly  adulterated  by  their  Ministers,  inso- 
much that  they  became  sensible,  by  the  ministry  of  CEcolampa- 
dius,  of  Bucer,  and  others,  how,  by  little  and  little,  the  purity 
of  doctrine  had  not  remained  amongst  them,  and  gave  orders, 
by  sending  to  their  brethren  in  Calabria,  to  put  all  things  in  a 
better  state." 

122. — The  change  of  the  Cdabrian  Vaudois,  and  their  entire  extinction. 

These  brethren  of  Calabria  were,  like  them,  fugitives,  who, 
according  to  the  maxims  of  the  sect,  held  their  assemblies,  as 
Gilles  reports,  J  "  in  the  most  secret  manner  it  was  possible,  and 
dissembled  many  things  against  their  will."  What  this  minister 
endeavors  to  hide  under  these  words,  you  must  understand  was, 
that  the  Vaudois  of  Calabria,  after  the  example  of  all  the  rest 
of  them,  performed  all  the  external  duties  of  good  Catholics  ; 
and  I  leave  you  to  judge  whether  they  could  have  been  exempt 
from  it  in  that  country,  considering  what  we  have  seen  of  their 
dissimulation  in  the  valleys  of  Pragelas  and  Angrogne.  Ac- 
cordingly Gilles  acquaints  us,  hpw  that  these  Calabrians,  pressed 
at  last  to  withdraw  from  church  assemblies,  yet  not  able  to  take 
the  resolution,  though  advised  to  it  by  this  minister,  "  of  for- 
saking so  fine  a  country,"  were  soon  abolished. 
123. — The  present  Vaudois  arenot  the  predecessors,  butfolloioers  of  the  Calvinists. 

Thus  expired  the  Vaudois.  As  they  had  only  subsisted  by 
concealing  what  they  were,  they  fell  as  soon  as  ever  they  re- 
solved to  declare  themselves ;  for  those  that  afterwards  remained 
under  that  name,  it  is  plain,  were  nothing  else  but  Calvinists, 
whom  Farel  and  the  other  ministers  of  Geneva  had  formed  to 
their  mode  ;  so  that  these  Vaudois,  whom  they  make  their  an- 
cestors and  predecessors,  to  speak  the  truth,  are  nothing  but 

*  Liv.  i.  p.  23.  1536.       f  Ibid.  pp.  35,  36.  1544.      |  Gilles,  ch.  iii.  et  xxix. 
VOL.   II.  9* 


102  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

their  successors,  and  new  disciples  whom  they  have  proselyted 
to  their  faith. 

124. — J^o  advantage  to  be  derived  from  the  Vaudois  in  behalf  of  the  Calvinists. 
But,  after  all,  what  help  can  these  Vaudois,  by  whom  they 
seek  to  justify  themselves,  afford  our  Calvinists  ?     It  is  mani- 
fest by  this  history  that  Waldo  and  his  disciples  were  all  mere 
laymen,  who  thrust  themselves  in  to  preach  without  orders,  with- 
out mission,  and  afterwards  to  administer  the  sacraments.   They 
separated  from  the  Church  by  a  manifest  error,  detested  as  much 
by  Protestants  as  Catholics,  which  was  that  of  Donatism  ;  nay, 
this  Donatism  of  the  Yaudois  is  beyond  comparison  much  worse 
than  the  African  Donatism  of  old,  so  strongly  confuted  by  St. 
Austin.     Those  Donatists  of  Africa  said,  indeed,  that  none  but 
a  holy  person  could  validly  administer  the  sacraments  ;  but  they 
did  not  arrive  at  the  extravagance  of  the  Vaudois,  to  allow  the 
administration  of  the  sacraments  as  well  to  holy  laymen  as  holy 
priests.     If  the  African  Donatists  pretended  that  the  Catholic 
bishops  and  priests  had  forfeited  their  ministry  by  their  crimes, 
they  at  least  accused  them  of  crimes,  which  were  actually  re- 
proved by  the  law  of  God.     But  our  nev/  Donatists  separate 
themselves  from  the  whole  Catholic  clergy,  and  would  have  it, 
they  were  degraded  from  their  orders  for  not  observing  their 
pretended  apostolic  poverty,  which,  at  most,  was  but  a  counsel. 
For  this  was  the  origin  of  the  sect,  and  what  we  have  seen  it 
stood  to,  as  long  as  it  persisted  in  its  first  belief.     Who,  there- 
fore, does  not  see  that  such  a  sect  is  nothing  at  bottom,  but  hy- 
pocrisy boasting  her  poverty  and  other  virtues,  and  making  the 
sacraments  depend,  not  on  the  efficacy  Jesus  Christ  has  given 
them,  but  on  man's  merits  ?     And,  after  all,  these  new  doctors, 
from  whom  the  Calvinists  derive  their  succession,  whence  came 
they  themselves,  and  who  sent  them  1     Puzzled  at  this  query  no 
less  than  the  Protestants,  like  them  they  went  in  quest  of  pre- 
decessors, and  here  is  the  fable  trumped  up  by  them.      They 
were  told,  that  in  the  time  of  St.  Sylvester,*  when  Constantino 
endowed  the  churches  with  revenues,  "  One  of  this  Pope's  com- 
panions would  not  consent  to  it,  and  withdrew  from  his  commu- 
nion, abiding,  together  with  them  that  followed  him,  in  the  way 
of  poverty  ;   and  then  it  was  the  Church  failed  in  Sylvester  and 
his  adherents,  and  remained  with  them."     Let  not  this  be  called 
a  calumny  invented  by  the  enemies  of  the  Vaudois,  for  we  have 
seen,  that  the  authors,  who  unanimously  report  it,  had  no  design 
of  calumniating  them.     This  fable  was  still  in  vogue  in  Seyssel's 
time. I     The  vulgar  were  then  told,  "  This  sect  had  taken  its 
rise  from  a  certain  man  called  Leo,  a  very  religious  person,  in 

*  Ren.  c.  iv.  v.  p.  749.    Pylicd.  c.  iv.  p.  779.     Frag.  Pylicd.  pp.  815,  816, 
&c,  I  Seyss.  £  5. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  103 

the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great,  who  detesting  the  avarice  of 
Sylvester,  and  Constantine's  excessive  Hberahty,  chose  rather 
to  follow  the  poverty  and  simplicity  of  faith,  than,  with  Sylvester, 
to  defile  himself  with  a  fat  and  rich  benefice,  to  which  Leo  and 
all  those  joined  themselves,  that  judged  aright  in  faith."  These 
ignorant  people  had  been  made  to  believe,  it  was  from  this  coun- 
terfeit Leo,  the  sect  of  Leonists  derived  their  name  and  birth. 
Christians  are  all  for  finding  a  succession  in  their  Church  and 
doctrine.  Protestants  boast  of  theirs  in  the  Vaudois,  the  Vau- 
dois  in  their  pretended  companion  of  St.  Sylvester ;  and  both 
are  equally  fictitious. 

125, — The  Calvinists  have  no  contemporary  authors  to  favor  their  pretensions  to 

the  Vaudois. 

All  the  truth  to  be  found  in  the  origin  of  the  Vaudois  is,  that 
they  took  their  motive  of  separation  from  the  endowing  of 
churches  and  church-men,  contrary,  as  they  pretended,  to  that 
poverty  Jesus  Christ  requires  of  his  ministers.  But  as  this  origin 
is  absurd,  and  besides,  nowise  serves  the  turn  of  Protestants, 
we  have  seen  what  an  account  Paul  Perrin  has  given  of  it  in  his 
history  of  the  Vaudois."^  He  represents  this  Waldo  as  a  person 
"  the  most  courageous  in  opposing"  the  Real  Presence  in  the 
year  1160.  But  does  he  produce  any  author  in  confirmation  of 
what  he  says  1  No,  not  so  much  as  one  ;  neither  Aubertin,  nor 
La  Roque,  nor  Chappel, — in  a  word,  no  Protestant  of  Germany 
or  France  hath  produced,  or  ever  will  produce,  any  one  author, 
either  of  those  times,  or  of  succeeding  ages,  for  the  space  of 
three  or  four  hundred  years,  who  gives  the  Vaudois  that  origin 
which  this  historian  lays  for  the  foundation  of  his  history.  Have 
any  of  the  Catholics,  who  wrote  so  copiously,  whatever  Beren- 
garius  and  the  rest  objected  against  the  Real  Presence,  so  much 
as  named  Waldo  amongst  those  that  opposed  it?  None  ever 
has  dreamed  of  it ;  we  have  seen  what  they  said  of  Waldo  was 
far  different.  But  why  must  they  have  spared  him  only  ?  What, 
then,  did  this  man,  whom  they  make  so  courageous  in  stemming 
the  torrent,  so  conceal  his  doctrine  that  none  ever  could  per- 
ceive he  impugned  an  article  of  this  importance  1  Or,  was 
Waldo  so  formidable  a  person,  that  no  Catholic  durst  impeach 
him  of  this  error  at  the  time  they  impeached  him  of  so  many 
others  1  An  historian  that  sets  out  with  a  fact  of  this  nature, 
and  lays  it  for  the  foundation  of  his  history,  what  credit  does  he 
deserve?  Nevertheless,  Paul  Perrin  is  heard,  like  an  oracle, 
among  Calvinists,  so  readily  do  they  come  into  whatever  favors 
the  prejudices  of  the  sect. 

126. — Vaudois  books  produced  hy  Perrin. 
But,  for  want  of  known  authors,  Perrin  produces,  for  his 
*  Hist,  des  Vaudois,  ch.  L 


104  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

only  proof,  some  old  books*  of  the  Vaudois,  in  manuscript,  which 
he  pretends  to  have  recovered  ;  amongst  the  rest,  one  volume, 
wherein  was  "  A  book,  concerning  Antichrist,  bearing  date  1120, 
and  in  this  same  volume,  many  sermons  of  the  Yaudois  Barbes." 
But  it  is  already  evidently  made  out,  that  there  neither  were 
Yaudois  nor  Barbes  in  1120;  since  Waldo,  by  Perrin's  own 
account,  did  no-t  appear  till  1160.  The  word  barbe  was  not 
known,  nor  in  use  among  the  Yaudois  to  signify  their  doctors, 
till  many  ages  after,  and  manifestly  in  the  latter  times.  So, 
these  discourses  cannot  all  of  them  be  made  to  pass  as  of  the 
year  eleven  hundred  and  twenty.  Nay,  Perrin  himself  is  re- 
duced to  allow  this  date  only  to  the  discourse  concerning  Anti- 
christ, which,  by  this  means,  he  hopes  to  father  on  Peter  de 
Bruis,  who  lived  about  that  time,  or  on  some  of  his  disciples. 
But  the  date  standing  in  the  front,  should  seemingly  extend  to 
all,  and  consequently  is  utterly  false  in  regard  of  the  first,  as  it 
evidently  is  in  regard  of  the  rest.  And  besides,  this  treatise 
about  Antichrist,  which  he  pretends  to  be  of  1160,  is  not  in  a 
different  language  from  the  other  pieces  of  the  Barbes  cited  by 
Perrin  ;  and  this  language  is  very  modern,  very  little  unlike  the 
dialect  of  Provence,  now  in  use.  Not  only  Yillehardouin's  lan- 
guage, who  wrote  a  hundred  years  since  Peter  de  Bruis,  but  that 
also  of  the  authors  subsequent  to  Yillehardouin,  is  more  obso- 
lete and  obscure  than  that  which  he  would  date  in  the  year  eleven 
hundred  and  twenty  ;  so  that  there  is  not  a  more  gross  and  pal- 
pable imposition,  than  to  palm  on  us  these  pieces  as  of  remote 
antiquity. 

127.— Sequel. 
Nevertheless,  on  account  of  this  sole  date  of  1120,  placed, 
you  know  not  by  whom,  you  know  not  when,  in  this  Yaudois 
volume  no  body  knows  any  thing  of,  our  Calvinists  have  cited 
this  book  about  Antichrist  as  undoubtedly  the  work  of,  "  some 
one  of  Peter  de  Bruis's"  disciples,  or  as  his  own."]"  The  same 
authors  quote,  with  great  confidence,  some  discourses  which 
PerrinJ  has  annexed  to  that  concerning  Antichrist,  as  if  of  the 
same  date,  1120,  although,  in  one  of  those  where  purgatory  is 
handled,  is  cited  a  book  which  St.  Austin  entitled,  as  the  original 
has  it,  "  Milparlemens,"  that  is,  of  a  thousand  sayings,  as  if  St. 
Austin  had  written  a  book  with  this  title  ;  which  can  be  attri- 
buted to  nothing  but  a  compilation  made  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, bearing  this  title,  "  Milleloquim  Sancti  Augustini,"  which 
the  ignorant  author  of  this  treatise  on  Purgatory  took  for  the 
work  of  this  father.  Besides  this,  we  might  be  able  to  say  some- 

*  Hist,  des  Vaudois,  lib.  i.  ch.  vii.  p.  57.  Hist,  des  Vaud.  et.  Albig.  part, 
iii.  lib.  iii.  ch.  i.  p.  253.  j  Aub.  p.  962.  La  Roque.  Hist  de  I'Euchar.  pp. 
451,  459.        J  Hist,  des  Vaud.  part.  iii.  liv.  iii.  ch.  ii.  p.  305. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  105 

thing  of  the  age  of  these  Vaudois  books,  and  the  alterations 
possibly  made  in  them,  were  we  told  of  some  known  library 
where  they  might  be  seen.  Till  the  public  has  received  this 
necessary  information,  we  cannot  but  wonder  such  books  have 
been  produced  to  us  for  authentic  as  have  not  been  seen  but  by 
Perrin  alone  ;  neither  Aubertin  nor  La  Roque  citing  them  other- 
wise than  on  his  Vv'ord,  without  so  much  as  telling  us  they  have 
ever  handled  them.  This  Perrin,*  who  alone  boasts  of  them 
to  us,  observes  none  of  those  marks  in  them  whereby  the  date 
of  a  book  may  be  ascertained,  or  its  antiquity  proved  ;  and  all 
he  tells  us  is,  they  are  old  Vaudois  volumes  ;  which,  in  general, 
may  be  said  of  the  most  modern  Gothic  books  of  no  more  than 
a  hundred  or  sixscore  years'  antiquity.  There  is  then  every 
reason  for  believing  that  these  books,  whence  they  produce  what 
they  please  without  any  solid  proof  of  their  date,  have  been 
composed  or  altered  by  those  Vaudois,  whom  Farel  and  his 
brethren  reformed  in  their  own  way. 

128. — Confessioti  of  Faith  produced  by  Perrin. — That  it  is  posterior  to  Calvinism. 
As  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  published  by  Perrin,|  and 
which  all  Protestants  quote  as  an  authentic  piece  of  the  ancient 
Vaudois,  "  It  is  extracted,"  says  he,  "from  a  book  entitled  the 
*  Spiritual  Almanac,'  and  from  the  '  Memoirs  of  George  Morel.'  " 
As  for  the  Spiritual  Almanac,  I  know  not  what  to  say  to  it,  un- 
less, that  neither  Perrin,  nor  even  Leger,  who  speaks  with  so 
great  a  regard  for  the  books  of  the  Vaudois,  have  mentioned  any 
tiling  of  the  date  of  this.  They  have  not  even  thought  it  worth 
their  while  to  acquaint  us  whether  it  may  be  a  manuscript  or  in 
print ;  and  we  may  hold  it  for  certain,  it  is  very  modern,  since 
those  who  would  make  the  most  of  it,  have  not  specified  its  an- 
tiquity. But  what  Perrin  reports  is  decisive,  viz.,  that  this  Con- 
fession of  Faith  is  extracted  from  the  Memoirs  of  George  Morel. 
Now  it  is  plain  from  Perrin  himself,  J  that  George  Morel  was  the 
man  who  about  1630,  (so  many  years  after  the  Reformation,) 
went  to  confer  with  CEcolampadius  and  Bucer,  concerning  the 
means  to  bring  about  an  union  ;  which  makes  it  clear  enough 
that  this  Confession  of  Faith  is  not,  any  more  than  the  rest, 
produced  by  Perrin,  of  the  ancient  Vaudois^  but  of  the  Vaudois 
reformed  according  to  the  model  of  the  Protestants. 

129. — Demonstration  that  the  Vaudois  had  no  Confession  of  Faith  before  the 
pretended  Reformation. 

Accordingly  it  has  been  already  remarked  by  us,  that  no 
mention  of  a  Vaudois  confession  of  faith  was  made  in  the  Con- 
ference of  1530,  between  CEcolampadius  and  the  said  Vaudois. 
We  may  even  boldly  assert,  that  they  never  made  a  confession 

+  Hist,  des  Vaud.  part  iii.  liv.  i.  ch.  vii.  p.  56.  f  Hist,  des  Vaud.  liv.  i.  ch. 
12,  p.  76.  Ibid.  X  Lett,  of  CEcolamp.  Perr.  Ibid.  ch.  vi.  p.  46  j  vii.  p.  59. 


106  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

of  faith  till  a  long  while  after,  since  that  Beza,  so  diligent  in  his 
researches  into,  and  taking  advantage  from,  the  acts  of  these 
heretics,  says  nothing,  as  has  been  seen,  of  any  such  confession 
of  faith,  that  he  knew  of,  except  in  1541.  However  that  may  be, 
never  before  Luther's  and  Calvin's  Reformation  had  a  Vaudois 
confession  of  faith  been  so  much  as  heard  of.*  Seyssel,  whom 
pastoral  vigilancy  and  the  duty  of  his  charge  engaged  in  those 
latter  times,  namely,  in  1516  and  1517,  to  so  exact  an  inquiry 
into  all  that  concerned  this  sect,  says  not  one  word  of  a  con- 
fession of  faith :  and  the  reason  was,!  because  he  had  never 
heard  of  any  such  thing,  either  from  juridicial  examinations  or 
from  those  of  his  own  converts,  who,  with  so  great  tokens  of 
sincerity,  discovered  to  him,  with  tears  and  compunction,  the 
whole  secret  of  the  sect.  They  had  not,  therefore,  at  that  time, 
any  such  confession  ;  their  doctrine  was  to  be  learnt,  as  we  have 
seen,  by  their  interrogatories  at  tribunals  ;  but  as  for  a  confes- 
sion of  faith,  or  any  Yaudois  writing,  we  find  not  a  word  in  those 
authors  that  knew  them  best.  On  the  contrary,  the  brethren  of 
Bohemia,  a  sect  of  whom  we  shall  speak  presently,  and  which 
the  Yaudois  have  frequently  strove  to  unite  themselves  to,  both 
before  and  since  Luther's  time,  assure  us  they  wrote  nothing. 
"  They  never  had,"  say  they,J  "  a  Church  known  in  Bohemia, 
nor  had  our  people  learnt  any  thing  of  their  doctrine,  by  reason 
they  never  had  published  any  writings  we  know  of."  And  in 
another  place — "  They  would  not  suffer  that  there  should  be 
any  public  testimony  of  their  doctrine."  But  if  you  will  say, 
they  had  nevertheless,  amongst  themselves,  some  writing  and 
some  confessions  of  faith ;  if  so,  doubtless  they  would  have 
communicated  them  to  the  brethren  with  whom  they  wished  to 
unite  themselves.  But  the  brethren  declare,  they  knew  nothing 
as  to  that  point,  except  from  some  articles  of  Merindol, 
"  which  articles,"  say  they,  "  possibly  might  have  been  polished 
since  our  time."  This  is  what  a  learned  minister  of  the  Bohe- 
mians writes, §  a  long  while  after  the  Reformation  of  Luther  and 
Calvin.  He  would  have  spoken  more  accurately  if,  instead  of 
saying  these  articles  were  "  polished,"  he  had  said  they  were 
coined  since  the  Reformation.  But  so  it  was  that  men  were 
willing,  in  the  party,  to  give  some  air  of  antiquity  to  the  Yaudois 
articles,  nor  would  this  minister  entirely  disclose  the  secret  of 
the  sect.  Be  that  as  it  will,  he  says  enough  of  it  to  convince 
us  what  we  ought  to  credit  concerning  the  confessions  of  faith 
produced,  in  his  time,  under  the  name  of  the  Yaudois ;  and  it 
is  easily  perceived  they  knew  nothing  of  the  Protestant  doctrine 

*  S.  n.  4.  f  Seyss.  f.  3,  et  seq.  J  Esrom.  Rudi^.  de  frat.  Orth.  narrat. 
Heid.  cum.  Hist  Cam.  1605,  pp.  147,  148.  Prajf.  Conf.  fid.  frat.  Bohem.  An. 
1572.    Ibid.  173.  §  Rud.  Ibid.  pp.  147,  148. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  107 

before  they  had  been  taught  it  by  the  Protestants.  Nay,  they 
scarce  knew  what  they  themselves  beheved,  and  but  confusedly 
dehvered  their  minds  concerning  it  to  their  best  friends,  so  far 
from  having  confessions  of  faith  aheady  at  hand,  as  Ferria 
would  fain  persuade  us. 

130. — The  Vaudois,  in  drawing  their  Calvinistical  Confession  of  Faith,  retained 
something  of  the  Dogmas  that  icere  peculiar  to  them. 

And  nevertheless  we  perceive,  even  in  these  pieces  of  Pcrrin, 
some  footsteps  of  the  ancient  genius  of  the  Vaudois,  a  confirma- 
tion of  what  we  have  already  said  concerning  them.  For  ex- 
ample, in  the  book  about  Antichrist,  it  is  said,*  "  That  the 
emperors  and  kings  supposing  that  Antichrist  resembled  the 
true  and  holy  mother  the  Church,  they  loved  him,  and  endowed 
him  contrary  to  God's  command,"  which  comes  up  to  the  tenet 
of  the  Vaudois,  that  the  clergy  are  forbidden  to  have  any  goods ; 
an  error,  as  above  seen,  which  was  the  first  ground- work  of 
their  separation.  What  is  advanced  in  the  catechism,  viz.,  that 
you  may  know  the  ministers  "  by  their  true  sense  of  the  faith, 
and  by  their  holy  doctrine  and  life  of  good  example,"  &c.,  suits 
also  with  that  error,  which  made  the  Vaudois  believe,  that  min- 
isters of  an  evil  life  were  degraded  from  their  ministry,  and  lost 
the  administration  of  the  sacraments.  For  which  reason,  in 
the  book  that  treats  of  Antichrist,  it  is  also  said,  that  one  of  his 
works  is,  "  to  attribute  the  Reformation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
faith  exteriorly  dead,  and  to  baptize  children  into  this  faith, 
teaching  that,  by  this  faith,  these  children  do  receive  from  him 
baptism  and  regeneration  :"  words  whereby  a  living  faith  is  re- 
quired in  the  ministers  of  baptism,  as  a  thing  necessary  for  the 
child's  regeneration,  and  the  contrary  is  ranked  among  the  works 
of  Antichrist.  Thus,  when  they  composed  these  new  confessions 
of  faith  agreeable  to  the  Reformation,  which  they  had  a  design 
of  entering  into,  there  was  no  hindering  them  from  still  insinu- 
ating something  that  savored  of  the  old  leaven  ;  and  without 
further  loss  of  time  in  this  inquiry,  it  is  sufficient  you  have  ob- 
served, in  these  works  of  the  Vaudois,  the  two  errors  which 
were  the  ground  of  their  separation. 

131. — Reflections  on  the  History  of  the  Mbigenses  and  Vaudois. — Artifice  of 

the  Ministers. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  Albigenses  and  Vaudois  as  reported 
by  the  authors  of  those  times.  Our  Reformed,  finding  nothing 
therein  favorable  to  their  pretensions,  connived  at  their  being 
imposed  upon  by  the  most  gross  of  all  artifices.  Many  Catholic 
authors  who  wrote  in  this,  or  towards  the  end  of  the  precedin'^ 
age,  have  not  sufficiently  distinguished  the  Vaudois  from  th  ^ 

+  Hist,  des  Vaud  et  Albig.  part  iii.  1.  iil  ch.  L  p.  292.  Ibid,  part  iii.  i  \ 
p.  167.    Ibid.  1.  iii.  p.  267. 


108  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

Albigenses,  but  given  the  general  name  of  Vaudois  alike  to 

both  of  them.     Wliatever  might  have  been  th-e  cause  of  their 

error,  our  Protestants  are  more  able  critics  than  to  require  we 

should  credit  either  Mariana,  or  Gretser,  or  even  De  Thou, 

and  some  other  moderns,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  ancient  authors, 

who  all  unanimously,  as  we  have  seen,  distinguished  these  two 

sects.     Nevertheless,  on  so  gross  an  error,  the  Protestants, 

after  taking  it  for  granted  that  the  Albigenses  and  Vaudois  were 

but  one  and  the  same  sect,  have  concluded,  that  nought  but 

calumny  branded  the  Albigenses  with  the  imputation  of  Mani- 

cheism,  since  the  Vaudois,  according  to  the  ancient  authors, 

are  exempt  from  that  blemish. 

132. — Demonstration  that  the  Heretics,  who  denied  the_Reality  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries,  were  Manicheans. — J^otoriously  fdse  supposition 
of  the  Ministers. 

They  ought  to  reflect  that  these  ancients,  who,  in  accusing  the 
Vaudois  of  other  errors,  have  acquitted  them  of  Manicheism,  at 
the  same  time  have  distinguished  them  from  the  Albigenses 
whom  we  have  convicted  of  it.  For  example,  the  minister  de 
la  Roque,  who,  as  he  was  the  last  who  wrote  on  this  subject, 
has  mustered  up  the  subtle  quirks  of  all  the  other  authors  of  the 
party,  and  especially  those  of  Aubertin,  believes  he  has  justified 
the  Albigenses  as  to  their  rejecting  the  Old  Testament,  like  the 
Manicheans,  by  showing  from  Renicr's  testimony,  that  the  Vau- 
dois received  it  :*  he  gains  nothing,  since  these  Vaudois  are,  in 
the  same  Renier,"}"  thoroughly  distinguished  from  the  Cathari, 
the  stem  of  the  Albigensian  progeny.  The  same  La  RoqueJ 
thinks  to  reap  advantage  from  certain  heretics,  who,  according 
to  Radulphus  Ardens,  said,  "  That  the  sacrament  was  nothing 
but  mere  bread-"  It  is  true  ;  but  the  same  Radulphus  adds, 
what  La  Roque  no  less  than  Aubertin  have  dissembled,  that 
these  same  heretics  "  admit  two  Creators,  and  reject  the  Old 
Testament,  the  truth  of  the  incarnation,  marriage,  and  the  use 
of  flesh-meat."  The  same  minister  also  cites  certain  heretics 
mentioned  by  Peter  de  Vaucernay,§  who  denied  the  truth  of 
Jesus  Christ's  body  in  the  Eucharist.  I  ov/n  it ;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  this  historian ||  assures  us,  they  admitted  the  two 
principles,  with  all  the  train  of  Manichean  errors.  La  Roque 
would  make  us  believe,  that  the  same  Peter  de  Vaucernay  dis- 
tinguishes the  Arians  and  Manicheans  from  the  Vaudois  and 
Albigenses.  The  half  of  this  statement  is  true  :  it  is  true  that 
he  distinguishes  the  Manicheans  from  the  Vaudois,  but  he  dis- 
tinguishes them  not  from  the  heretics  "  that  were  in  the  country 

*  La  Roq.  459,  Aub.  p.  967,  ex.  Ren.  c.  iii.  p.  5.  f  Ren.  c  vi. 

X  La  Roq.  456,  Aub.  p.  964.  B.  Rad.  Aid.  Serm.  8,  Post  Pentec. 
§  La  Roq.  Aub.  Ibid.  965,  ex.  Pet.  de  ValJe-Cern.  Hist.  Albig.lib.  ii.cap.6. 
II  Hist.  Albig.  cap.  2. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  109 

of  Narbonne  ;"  and  certain  it  is,  these  are  the  same  that  were 
called  Albigenses,  and  who  unquestionably  were  Manicheans. 
But,  continues  the  same  La  Roque,*  Renier  owns  heretics  who 
say,  "  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  mere  bread  ;"  they  were  those 
he  calls  Ordibarians  that  spoke  thus,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
denied  the  Creation,  and  vented  a  thousand  other  blasphemies 
which  Manicheism  had  introduced :  so  that  these  enemies  of 
the  Real  Presence  were  at  the  same  time  no  less  enemies  of  the 
Creator  than  the  Deity. 

1 33. — Sequel. — Manicheism  at  Metz. — The  Bogomilists. 

La  Roque  returns  to  the  attack  with  Aubertin,  and  believes 
he  finds  good  Protestants  in  the  persons  of  those  heretics,  who, 
by  the  testimony  of  Cesarius  of  Hesterback,"!"  *'  blasphemed  the 
body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."  But  the  same  Cesarius  in- 
forms us,  they  admitted  the  two  principles,  and  all  the  other 
Manichean  blasphemies  ;  which  he  avers  he  is  very  well  assured 
of,  not  from  hearsay,  but  "  from  his  frequent  conversation  with 
them  in  the  Diocese  of  Metz."  A  famous  minister  of  Metz, 
whom  I  was  well  acquainted  with,  made  the  Calvinists  of  that 
country  believe  these  Albigenses  of  Cesarius  v/ere  their  ances- 
tors ;  and  then  they  were  plainly  shown,  that  these  ancestors  he 
had  given  them,  were  abominable  Manicheans.  La  Roque,  in 
his  history  of  the  Eucharist,  would  fain  have  us  believe,  the 
Bogomilists  were  the  same  with  those  called,  in  divers  places, 
Vaudois,  poor  men  of  Lyons,  Bulgarians,  Insabbatized,  Ga- 
zares,  Poplicans,  and  Turlupins.  I  agree  that  the  Vaudois,  the 
Insabbatized,  and  tlie  poor  men  of  Lyons  are  the  same  sect ; 
but  that  they  were  called  Gazares  or  Cathari,  Poplicans,  Bul- 
garians, or  I3ogoniilists,  is  what  never  will  be  proved  from  any 
author  of  those  times.  Nevertheless,  M.  de  la  Roque  must 
needs  have  these  Bogomilists  to  be  their  friends  ;  surely  for  this 
reason,  because  "  they  accounted  the  body  and  blood,  which  we 
consecrate,  unworthy  of  all  esteem."  But  he  ought  to  have 
learned  from  Anna  Comnena,J  who  has  given  us  a  right  notion 
of  these  heretics,  "  that  they  reduced  to  a  phantom  the  incarna- 
tion of  Jesus  ;  that  they  taught  such  impurities  as  the  modesty 
of  her  sex  forbade  this  princess  to  repeat ;  and,  in  a  word,  that 
they  had  been  convicted  by  the  Emperor  Alexius,  her  father,  of 
introducing  a  dogma  mixed  with  two,  the  most  infamous  of  all 
heresies,  that  of  the  Manicheans  and  that  of  the  Massalians." 

134. — Sequel  of  the  suppositions  of  the  Ministers. 
The  same  La  Roque  §  numbers  also  amongst  his  friends  Peter 

*  La  Roque,  p.  457.  Aub.  p.  965.  Ren.  cap.  vi.  f  Ca:;sar.  Hesterb. 
lib.  V.  cap.  2,  in  Bibl.  Cisterc.  La  Roque,  p.  457.  Aub.  p.  964.  Ferri  Cat. 
Gen.  pp.  85,  455.  |  An.  Comn.  Alex.  lib.  xv.  p.  486.  et  seq. 

§  La  Roq.  p.  458.    Rog.  de  Hoved.  An.  Angl.  Baron,  ad  1178. 
VOL.  II.  10 


110  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

Moran,  who,  pressed  to  declare  his  faith  before  all  the  people, 
confessed,  "  He  did  not  believe  the  consecrated  bread  was  the 
body  of  our  Lord ;"  and  he  forgets  that  this  Peter  Moran,  by 
the  report  of  the  author  whose  testimony  he  cites,  was  of  the 
number  of  those  heretics  convicted  of  Manicheism,  who  were 
called  Arians  for  the  reason  above  mentioned. 

135. — Another  falsity. 
This  author  reckons  also  amongst  his  friends*  those  heretics, 
concerning  whom  it  is  said  in  the  Council  of  Toulouse,  under 
Cahxtus  II,  "  that  they  rejected  the  sacrament  of  Jesus  Christ's 
body  and  blood  ;"  and  he  mutilates  the  very  canon  he  has  taken 
these  words  from,  in  the  sequel  whereof  is  to  be  seen,  that  these 
heretics,  together  with  the  sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood, 
"  rejected  also  infant  baptism  and  lawful  wedlock." 

136. — Another  passage  mutilated. 

With  a  like  boldness  he  corrupts!  a  passage  of  Emerick,  the 
inquisitor,  concerning  the  Vaudois.  "  Emerick,"  says  he,  "  at- 
tributes to  them,  as  a  heresy,  their  saying  that  the  bread  is  not 
transubstantiated  into  the  true  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  nor  the 
wine  into  blood."  Who  would  not  believe  the  Yaudois  con- 
victed by  this  testimony  of  denying  transubstantiation  1  but  we 
have  given  the  whole  passage,  where  you  will  read,  "  The  ninth 
error  of  the  Vaudois  is,  that  the  bread  is  not  transubstantiated 
into  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  if  the  priest  who  consecrate  it  be 
a  sinner. ^^  M.  la  Roque  cuts  off  these  last  words,  and,  by  this 
falsification  alone,  takes  from  the  Vaudois  two  important  points 
of  their  doctrine  :  one,  which  is  the  abhorrence  of  all  Protes- 
tants, to  wit,  transubstantiation  ;  the  other,  which  is  the  abhor- 
rence of  all  Christians,  namely,  their  saying,  that  the  sacraments 
lose  their  virtue  in  the  hands  of  unworthy  ministers.  Thus  do 
our  adversaries  prove  what  they  please  by  manifest  falsifications, 
nor  dread  giving  themselves  predecessors  even  at  this  rate. 

1 37. — Recapitulation. 

These  are  a  part  of  Aubertin's  and  La  Roque's  illusions  with 
regard  to  the  Albigenses,  and  Vaudois,  or  poor  men  of  Lyons. 
In  a  word,  they  perfectly  vindicate  these  last  from  Manicheism, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  bring  no  kind  of  proof  to  show  they  de- 
nied transubstantiation  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  corrupt  the  pas- 
sages which  prove  that  they  admitted  it.  And  as  for  those  who 
denied  it  in  those  days,  they  produce  none  but  such  as  are  con- 
victed of  Manicheism,  by  the  testimony  of  the  same  authors  that 
accuse  them  of  denying  the  change  of  substance  in  the  Eucha- 
rist ;  so  that  their  ancestors  either,  with  us,  defend  transubstan- 

*  La  Roq.  p.  451.     Cone.  Tolos.  An.  1119.     Can.  ill.  v.  8. 
t  P.  457.     Direct,  part  ii.  p.  14. 


'XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  Ill 

tiation  as  the  Yaudois,  or  are  convicted  of  Manicheism  with  the 

Albigenses. 

138. —  Tioo  other  objections  of  the  Ministers. 
But  here  is  what  these  ministers  have  advanced  with  greater 
subtlety.  Overpowered  by  the  number  of  authors,  who,  treating 
of  these  Toulousian  and  Albigensian  heretics,  make  them  per- 
fect Manicheans,  they  cannot  deny  there  were  such,  and  even 
in  those  countries  ;  and  they  were  those,  say  they,"^  who  were 
called  Cathari  or  Puritans.  But,  they  add,  they  were  very  few 
in  number,  since  Renier,"!"  who  knew  them  so  well,  assures  us, 
they  had  but  "  sixteen  churches  in  the  whole  world  ;"  nay,  that 
the  number  of  these  Cathari  did  not  exceed  four  thousand  in  all 
parts  of  the  earth ;  "  whereas,"  says  Renier,J  "  the  believers 
are  not  to  be  numbered."  These  ministers  would  have  it  un- 
derstood from  this  passage,  that  these  sixteen  churches,  and  four 
thousand  men  spread  in  all  parts  of  the  universe,  could  not  have 
caused  in  it  all  that  noise  and  all  those  wars  the  Albigenses  were 
authors  of;  it  must,  therefore,  have  happened  that  the  name  of 
Cathari  or  Manicheans  was  extended  to  some  other  sect  more 
numerous,  and  that  the  Vaudois  and  Albigenses  had  the  name 
of  Manicheans  given  them  either  by  mistake  or  calumny. 

139. — Sixteen  Churches  of  the  Manicheans  that  comprehend  the  lohole  Sect. 

Whoever  wishes  to  see  what  length  prejudice  or  illusion  will 
go,  needs  but  to  hear,  after  what  the  ministers  have  said,  the 
truth  I  am  going  to  relate,  or  rather,  call  to  mind  what  has  al- 
ready been  related.  And,  in  the  first  place,  as  to  these  sixteen 
churches,  you  have  seen  that  the  word  Church  was  taken  in  this 
place  by  Renier,§  not  for  particular  churches  which  were  in  cer- 
tain towns,  but  often,  for  whole  provinces  :  thus  you  find  amongst 
these  churches,  the  church  of  Sclavonia,  the  church  of  Marc- 
Ancona  in  Italy,  the  church  of  France,  the  church  of  Bulgaria, 
the  mother  of  all  the  rest.  All  Lombardy  was  contained  under 
the  title  of  two  churches  ;  those  of  Toulouse  and  Alby,  which 
in  France  formerly  were  the  most  numerous,  comprehended  all 
Languedoc,  and  so  forth ;  so  that,  under  the  denomination  of 
sixteen  churches,  the  whole  sect  was  expressed  as  divided  into 
sixteen  cantons,  all  which  had  their  relation  to  Bulgaria,  as  above 
seen. 
140. — The  Cathari,  in  number  four  thousand. — Hoio  is  this  to  be  understood? 

We  have  also  observed,  with  respect  to  those  four  thousand 
Cathari,  that  none  were  understood  by  that  name  but  the  perfect 
of  the  sect,  called  elect  in  St.  Austin's  time  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  that  Renier  assures  us,  in  his  time,  to  wit,  in  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  sect  was  weakened,  though 

*  Aub.  p.  968.  a.  La  Roq.  p.  460,  ex.      f  C.  vi.    J  Ibid.     §  Ren.  c.  vi. 


112  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

there  were  but  four  thousand  perfect  Cathari,  yet,  that  the  mul- 
titude of  the  rest  of  the  sect,  namely,  of  simple  believers,  was 
then  infinite. 

141. — TVkether  the  loord  Believers,  in  the  ancient  authors,  signified  the  Vaudois. 

— Auberthi's  fallacy. 

La  Roque,  after  Aubertin,*  pretends,  the  word  "  Believers" 
signified  the  Vaudois,  by  reason  that  Pylicdorf,  and  Renier  him- 
self, call  them  so.  But  here  is  again  too  palpable  a  fallacy. 
The  word  "  Believers"  was  common  to  all  the  sects  :  each  sect 
had  its  behevers  or  followers.  The  Vaudois  had  their  believers, 
Credentes  ipsorum,  whom  Pylicdorf  has  spoken  of  in  divers 
places.  Not  that  the  word  "  Believers"  was  appropriated  to  the 
Vaudois  ;  but  the  thing  meant  was,  that  they  had  theirs  like 
the  rest.  The  passages  cited  from  Renier,  by  the  ministers, 
says,  the  heretics  "  had  their  believers,  Credentes  suos,  to  whom 
they  allowed  all  kind  of  crimes."  It  is  not  the  Vaudois  he  speaks 
of,  since  he  commends  their  good  deportment.  The  same  Renier 
relates  the  mysteries  of  the  Cathari,  or  the  breaking  of  their 
bread,  and  says,|  "  they  admitted  to  this  table  not  only  the  Ca- 
thari, men  and  women,  but  also  their  believers,"  namely,  those 
who  were  not  as  yet  arrived  to  the  perfection  of  the  Cathari ; 
which  shows  manifestly  these  two  orders  so  well  known  among 
the  Manicheans  ;  and  what  he  further  remarks,  that  the  simple 
believers  were  admitted  to  this  kind  of  mystery,  makes  it  evi- 
dent, that  there  were  other  mysteries  which  they  were  not  deemed 
worthy  of.  These  believers  of  the  Cathari  were  therefore  the 
"  innumerable"  above  mentioned  ;  and  these,  guided  by  the  rest 
of  an  inferior  number,  raised  all  the  commotions  which  dis- 
turbed the  world. 

142. — Conclusion :  that  the  Vaudois  conciirnot  in  sentiment  with  the  Calvinists, 
Here  have  you  then  the  subtleties,  not  to  say  artifices,  the 
ministersare  reduced  to,in  order  tofind  themselves  predecessors. 
They  have  none  of  an  apparent  and  continued  succession  ;  of 
such  they  go  in  search  the  best  way  they  are  able,  amongst  ob- 
scure sects  whom  they  strive  to  unite,  and  make  of  them  good 
Calvinists,  though  there  be  nothing  they  all  agree  in,  but  their 
hatred  against  the  Pope  and  Church. 

143. — What  is  to  be  believed  concerning  the  lives  of  the  Vaudois. 
It  will  be  asked  me,  perhaps,  what  is  my  opinion  concerning 
the  manners  of  the  Vaudois  so  much  extolled  by  Renier  1  I  can 
easily  credit  all  he  says,  nay,  if  they  please,  more  than  Renier 
said  of  them  ;  for  the  devil  matters  not  by  what  sort  of  bands  he 
secures  men  to  him.  Those  Toulousian  heretics,  confessedly 
Manicheans,  had  not  less  of  this  apparent  piety  than  the  Vaudois. 

*  Aub.  968.  a.  La  Roq.  460.  c.  i.  14, 18.  p.  780,  &c.  c.  i.  p.  747.  t  C.  vi.  p.  756. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  113 

It  was  of  them  St.  Bernard  said  :*  "  Their  manners  are  irre- 
proachable ;  they  oppress  none  ;  they  injure  no  man ;  their 
countenances  are  mortified  and  wan  with  fasting ;  they  eat  not 
their  bread  Uke  sluggards,  but  labor  to  gain  a  livelihood."  What 
can  be  more  plausible  than  these  heretics  mentioned  by  St.  Ber- 
nard ?  But,  after  all,  they  were  Manicheans,  and  their  piety  but 
disguise.  Inspect  the  foundation  :  it  was  pride,  it  was  hatred 
against  the  clergy,  it  was  rancor  against  the  Church ;  this  made 
them  drink  in  the  whole  poison  of  an  abominable  heresy.  An 
ignorant  people  may  be  led  whither  you  please,  when,  after 
kindling  a  violent  passion  in  their  breasts,  especially  hatred 
against  their  guides,  you  use  it  as  a  chain  to  drag  them  by.  But 
what  shall  we  say  of  the  Vaudois,  who  kept  themselves  so  clear 
of  the  Manichean  errors.  The  devil  had  accomplished  his  work 
in  them,  when  he  inspired  them  with  the  same  pride  ;  the  same 
ostentation  of  their  pretended  Apostolic  poverty  ;  the  same  pre- 
sumption to  boast  their  virtues ;  the  same  hatred  against  the 
clergy,  carried  so  far  as  even  to  despise  the  Sacraments  in  their 
hands  ;  the  same  bitterness  against  their  brethren,  even  to  a 
rupture  from  them  and  open  schism.  With  this  hatred  in  their 
breasts,  even  though  they  were  externally  still  more  just  than 
has  been  reported,  St.  John  assures  me,"!"  they  are  murderers. 
Were  they  as  chaste  as  angels,  their  lot  would  be  no  better  than 
that  of  the  "  foolish  virgins,"J  whose  lamps  were  void  of  oil, 
and  hearts  void  of  that  sweetness  which  alone  can  nourish  charity. 

144. — So^irness  is  the  character  of  this  Sect. — Muse  of  the  Scripture. 
Renier§  has  therefore  justly  pointed  out  the  character  of  these 
heretics,  when  he  resolves  the  cause  of  their  error  into  hatred, 
bitterness,  and  rancor  :  Sic  processit  dodrina  ipsorum,  et  rancor. 
These  heretics,  says  he,  whose  exterior  was  so  specious,  read 
much,  "  and  prayed  little.  They  went  to  sermons,  but  in  order 
to  lay  snares  for  the  preacher,  as  the  Jews  did  for  the  Son  of 
God ;"  as  much  as  to  say,  there  was  amongst  them  much  of 
the  spirit  of  contention,  but  little  of  the  spirit  of  compunction. 
All  of  them  in  general,  Manicheans  and  Vaudois,  never  ceased 
inveighing  against  human  inventions,  and  citing  the  holy  Scrip- 
ture, whence  they  always  had  a  text  at  hand  upon  all  occasions.  || 
When  examined  concerning  faith,  they  eluded  the  question  by 
equivocating  ;  if  reproved  for  this,  it  was  Jesus  Christ  Irimself, 
said  they,  that  taught  them  this  practice  when  he  said  to  the 
Jews :  "  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  v.ill  raise  it 
up  ;"ir  meaning  of  the  temple  of  his  body  what  the  Jews  under- 
stood of  that  of  Solomon.  This  text,  to  those  that  knew  no 
better,  seemed  expressly  made  for  their  purpose.    The  Vaudois 

*  Serm.  65,  in  Cant.  f  1  John  iii.  15.  J  Matt.  xxv.  3. 

§  Ch.  V.  p.  749.  II  Ren.  Ibid.  IT  John  ii.  19. 

VOL.  n.  10* 


114  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

had  a  hundred  others  of  this  sort,  which  they  were  expert  in 
wresting  to  their  own  purposes  ;  and  to  those  not  thoroughly 
versed  in  Scripture,  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  escape  their  snares. 
Another  author*  remarks  a  very  singular  character  in  these  false 
professors  of  poverty.  They  did  not  proceed  like  a  St.  Bernard, 
like  a  St.  Francis,  like  other  apostolic  preachers,  and  attack  in 
the  midst  of  the  world  the  dissolute  hvers,  the  usurers,  the  game- 
sters, the  blasphemers,  and  the  like  public  sinners  in  order  to 
convert  them  :  on  the  contrary,  whomsoever  they  found,  in  towns 
or  villages  that  were  peaceable  and  retired,  it  was  into  their 
houses  they  insinuated  themselves  under  the  covert  of  their  ex- 
terior simplicity.  Scarce  durst  they  raise  their  voice,  their 
meekness  was  so  great :  yet  the  topic  of  wicked  priests  and 
wicked  monks  was  introduced  forthwith  :  a  keen  and  merciless 
satire  put  on  the  disguise  of  zeal ;  well-meaning  people,  that 
listened  to  them,  were  ensnared  ;  and  transported  with  this  bitter 
zeal,  imagined  even  they  became  better  men  by  becoming  here- 
tics :  thus  an  universal  contagion  diffused  itself.  Some  were 
drawn  into  vice  by  the  great  scandals  that  appeared  in  the  world 
on  every  side  ;  the  devil  took  in  the  simple  after  another  man- 
ner ;  and,  by  a  false  horror  of  the  w^icked,  alienated  them  from 
the  Church,  wherein  the  number  of  such  was  daily  seen  to  in- 
crease. 

145. — Eminent  sanctity  in  the  Catholic  Church. 
Nothing  could  be  more  unjust ;  since  the  Church,  far  from 
approving  the  disorders  which  gave  a  handle  to  the  revolt  of 
heretics,  by  all  her  decrees  detested  them,  and  nourished  at  the 
same  time  in  her  bosom  men  of  so  eminent  a  holiness,  that  in 
comparison  to  it,  all  the  virtue  of  these  hypocrites  appeared  as 
nothing.  St.  Bernard  alone,  whom  God  raised  in  those  days 
with  all  the  graces  of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles  to  combat  these 
new  heretics,  when  they  were  making  their  greatest  efforts  to 
spread  themselves  in  France,  was  alone  sufficient  to  confound 
them.  In  him  might  they  behold  a  spirit  truly  apostolical,  a 
sanctity  of  such  a  lustre,  that  even  those  whose  errors  he  im- 
pugned were  in  admiration  of  it,  insomuch  that  there  were  some 
of  them  who,  whilst  they  wickedly  anathematized  the  holy  doc- 
tors, excepted  St.  Bernard  from  that  sentence,t  and  thought 
themselves  obliged  to  publish,  that  at  last  he  had  come  over  to 
their  party ;  so  much  did  they  blush  to  have  against  them  so 
great  a  witness.  Amongst  his  other  virtues,  was  seen  to  shine 
in  him,  and  his  brethren  the  holy  monks  of  Cisteaux  and  Clair- 
vaux,  to  mention  nothing  of  the  rest,  that  apostolic  poverty  these 
heretics  boasted  so  much  of;  but  St.  Bernard  and  his  disciples, 
notwithstanding  they  carried  this  poverty  and  Christian  mortifi- 
*  Pyiicd.  c.  X.  p.  2S3.  f  Apud.  Ren.  ch.  vi.  p.  755. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  115 

cation  to  its  utmost  height,  did  not  glory  that  they  alone  had 
preserved  the  Sacraments,  nor  were  they  the  less  obedient  to 
superiors  however  wicked,  distinguishing,  with  Jesus  Christ, 
abuses  from  the  chair  and  from  doctrine. 

146. — Bitterness  and  presumption  of  Heretics. 
At  the  same  time,  great  saints  might  be  numbered,  not  only 
among  the  bishops,  among  the  priests,  among  the  monks,  but 
also  among  the  common  people,  and  even  amongst  princes,  in 
the  midst  of  this  worldly  pomp  ;  but  heretics  cared  to  look  on 
nothing  but  vice,  that  they  might  say  more  boldly  \vith  the  phari- 
see,  "  We  are  not  as  other  men  are  ;"*  we  are  spotless,  we  are 
the  poor  beloved  of  God ;  come  to  us  if  you  will  receive  the 
Sacraments. 

147. — Whether  their  false  constancy  ought  to  surprise  us. — St.  Bernard's  mem- 

arable  answer. 

One  ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  surprised  at  the  apparent  regu- 
larity of  their  manners,  this  being  a  part  of  that  seduction  against 
which  we  have  been  put  on  our  guard  by  so  many  admonitions 
of  the  gospel.  To  finish  the  external  piety  of  these  heretics, 
this  last  stroke  is  added ;  that  they  suffered  with  a  surprising 
patience.  It  is  true,  and  this  it  is  which  completes  the  illusion. 
For  the  heretics  of  those  times,  and  even  the  Manicheans,  whose 
infamies  we  have  beheld,  after  shifting  and  dissembling  as  long 
as  ever  they  were  able  to  escape  punishment,  when  convicted, 
and  condemned  by  the  laws,  ran  to  death  with  joy.  Their  false 
constancy  amazed  the  world  :  Enervin,  their  accuser,  j"  was  nev- 
ertheless astonished,  and  inquired  of  St.  Bernard  with  concern 
the  meaning  of  such  a  prodigy.  But  the  saint,  too  well  versed 
in  the  deep  wiles  of  Satan  to  be  ignorant  of  his  being  able  to 
make  those  he  held  captives  mimic  even  martyrdom  itself,  an- 
swered, that  by  a  just  judgment  of  God,  the  evil  one  might  have 
power,  "  Not  only  over  the  bodies  of  men,  but  also  over  their 
hearts  ;"  j  and  if  he  was  able  to  prevail  v/ith  Judas  to  destroy 
himself,  he  might  well  work  on  these  heretics  to  suffer  death 
from  the  hands  of  others.  Let  us  not,  therefore,  wonder,  if  we 
see  martyrs  of  all  rehgions,  even  of  those  the  most  m.onstrous, 
but  let  us  learn  from  this  example,  to  hold  none  for  true  martyrs 
but  those  who  die  in  unjty. 

148. — Inevitable  condemnation  of  these  Heretics, in  that  they  debited  their  religion. 
But  what  ought  to  put  Protestants  for  ever  out  of  conceit  with 
all  these  impious  sects,  is  the  detestable  custom  they  had  of 
denying  their  religion,  and  partaking  outwardly  of  our  worship 
whilst  they  rejected  it  in  their  hearts.  It  is  certain  the  Yaudois, 
like  the  Manicheans,  lived  in  this  practice  ever  since  the  be- 

*  Luke  xviii.  11.      f  Analect  lib.  iii.  p.  454.      %  Serm.  66.  in  Cant.  sub.  fin. 


116  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

ginning  of  the  sect,  till  towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 
Seyssel*  could  not  sufficiently  wonder  at  the  false  piety  of  their 
Barbes,  who  condemning  even  the  minutest  lies,  as  so  many 
grievous  sins,  yet  dreaded  not,  in  presence  of  the  judges,  to  lie 
in  point  of  faith,  with  an  obstinacy  so  surprising,  that  the  con- 
fession of  it  could  scarcely  be  extorted  from  them  by  the  most 
acute  tortures.  They  forbade  swearing,  though  even  to  bear 
witness  to  truth  in  courts  of  judicature  ;  and  at  the  same  time 
stuck  at  no  oath  to  conceal  their  sect  and  faith  ;  a  tradition  they 
had  received  from  the  Manicheans,  as  they  had  also  inherited 
from  them  their  presumption  and  rancor.  Men  inure  themselves 
to  any  thing,  when  once  their  guides  have  gained  the  ascendant 
over  their  minds  ;  but  especially  when  engaged  in  a  cabal  under 
the  pretext  of  piety. 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  BOHEMIAN  BRETHREN,  VULGARLY 

AND  FALSELY  CALLED  VAUDOIS. 

149. — The  Sect  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren. 

We  are  now  to  speak  of  those  who  were  falsely  called  Vaudois 
and  Picards,  and  who  called  themselves  the  Brethren  of  Bohe- 
mia, or  the  Orthodox  Brethren,  or,  barely.  Brethren.  They  con- 
stitute a  particular  sect  distinct  from  the  Albigenses  and  the 
poor  men  of  Lyons.  When  Luther  rose  up,  he  found  some 
churches  in  Bohemia,  and  especially  in  Moravia,  which  he  long 
detested.  He  approved  afterwards  of  their  confession  of  faith, 
corrected  as  we  shall  see.  Bucer  and  Musculus  have  also  be- 
stowed great  praises  on  them.  The  learned  Camerarius,  whom 
we  have  so  much  spoken  of,  that  intimate  friend  of  Melancthon, 
judged  their  history  worthy  to  be  written  by  his  fine  pen.  His 
son-in-law,  Rudiger,"!"  though  called  by  the  Protestant  churches 
of  the  Palatinate,  preferred  to  them  those  of  Moravia,  and  chose 
to  be  their  minister ;  and  of  all  the  sects  separated  from  Rome 
before  Luther,  this  is  the  most  commended  by  Protestants  :  but 
its  birth  and  doctrine  will  soon  evince  that  nothing  could  be 
drawn  from  it  to  their  advantage. 

150. — They  disoion  those  who  call  them  Vaudois,  and  why. 

As  for  its  birth,  many,  led  into  a  mistake  by  the  name,  and 
some  conformity  of  doctrine,  make  these  Bohemians  descend 
from  the  ancient  Vaudois  :  but  for  their  part,  they  renounce  this 
origin,|;  as  appears  clearly  in  the  preface  they  prefixed  to  their 
Confession  of  Faith  in  1672.  There  they  set  forth  their  origin 
in  an  ample  manner,  and  say,  amongst  other  things,  that  the 
Vaudois  are  more  ancient  than  they  ;  that  these  had,  indeed, 

*  F.  47.  t  De  Eccl.  Frat.  in.  Boh.  et  Mor.  nar.  Hist  Held.  1605. 

J  De  Oiig.  Eccl.  Boh.  et  confess,  ab  iis  editis.  Heid.  An.  1605,  cum  Hist. 
Joach.  Gamer,  p.  173. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  117 

some  churches  dispersed  in  Bohemia  when  their  own  began  first 
to  appear,  but  they  had  no  acquaintance  with  them  ;  that  nev- 
ertheJess  these  Yaudois,  in  process  of  time,  made  themselves 
known  to  them,  yet  refused,  say  they,  to  make  any  deep  research 
into  their  doctrine.  *'  Our  annals,"  continue  they,  "  inform  us 
they  were  never  united  to  our  churches,  for  two  reasons  :  first, 
because  they  gave  no  testimony  of  their  faith  and  doctrine  ; 
secondly,  because,  in  order  to  keep  peace,  they  made  no  diffi- 
culty of  assisting  at  masses  celebrated  by  those  of  the  Church 
of  Rome."  Whence  they  concluded,  not  only  "  that  they  never 
had  entered  into  any  union  with  the  Vaudois,  but  also,  that  they 
had  always  believed  they  could  not  enter  into  any  such  with  a 
safe  conscience."  So  far  are  these  people  from  acknowledging 
a  Vaudois  extraction,  that  what  is  eagerly  sought  for  by  the 
Calvinists  is  rejected  by  them  with  scorn. 

151. — The  sentiments  of  Camerarius  and  Rudiger. 
Camerarius  writes  the  same  thing  in  his  history  of  the  Bo- 
hemian brethren  :*  but  Rudigerjf  one  of  their  pastors  in  Mo- 
ravia, says,  still  more  clearly,  that  "  these  churches  are  far  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  Vaudois  ;  that  the  Vaudois  were  in  being 
ever  since  the  year  1160,  whereas  the  Brethren  did  not  begin  to 
appear  till  the  fifteenth  century  ;  and  finally,  that  it  is  written  ia 
the  annals  of  the  Brethren,  how  they  always  with  constancy  re- 
fused to  make  any  union  with  the  Vaudois,  because  they  did  not 
give  a  full  Confession  of  their  faith,  and  went  to  Mass." 

152. — The  Vaudois  disoioned  by  the  Brethren  as  well  as  the  Picards. 

Accordingly,  we  see  the  Brethren,  in  all  their  synods  and  all 
their  acts,  style  themselves  the  Brethren  of  Bohemia,  falsely 
called  Vaudois..];  The  name  of  Picards  is  still  more  detested 
by  them  :  "  It  is  very  likely,"  says  Rudiger,  "  that  those,  who 
first  gave  it  to  our  ancestors,  took  it  from  a  certain  Picard,  who, 
renewing  the  ancient  heresy  of  the  Adamites,  introduced  nudi- 
ties, and  shameful  actions ;  and  as  this  heresy  penetrated  into 
Bohemia  about  the  time  our  churches  were  established,  they 
were  discredited  by  so  infamous  a  title,  as  if  we  had  been  noth- 
ing but  the  miserable  remains  of  that  impure  Picard. "§  You  see 
tViereby  how  these  two  pedigrees,  from  the  Yaudois  and  this 
Picard,  are  rejected  by  the  Brethren  ;  "  they  account  it  even  an 
affront  to  be  called  Picard  and  Yaudois  ;"  ||  and  if  the  first  origin 
displeases  them,  the  second,  in  which  our  Protestants  glory, 
seems  to  them  but  little  less  shameful ;  but  now  we  are  going  to 
see  that  which  they  give  themselves  is  not  much  more  reputable. 

*  Hist  p.  105,  &c.     t  Rudig.  de  Eccl.  Frat.  in  Bohem,  et  Mor.nar.  p.  147. 
I  In  Syn.  Sendom.  Synt  Gen.  part.  ii.  p.  219.  §  Rudig.  EccL  Frat.  in 

Bohem.  et  Mor.  nar.  p.  148.        ||  Apo.  1532.  ap.  Lyd.  1.  ii.  p.  137. 


118  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

THE  HISTORY  OF  JOHN  WICKLIFF,  AN  ENGLISHMAN. 
153. — WicJdiff^s  impious  doctrine  in  his  Tnalogue. 

They  boast  of  being  the  disciples  of  John  Huss  ;  but  to  judge 
of  their  pretension,  we  must  ascend  higher  still,  since  John  Huss 
himself  gloried  in  having  WicklifFfor  his  master.  What  judg- 
ment we  then  ought  to  pass  on  WicklifF  shall  be  showed  in  few 
words,  without  producing  any  other  records  than  his  own  works, 
and  the  testimony  of  all  candid  Protestants. 

The  chief  of  all  his  works  is  the  Trialogue,  that  famous  book 
which  set  all  Bohemia  in  a  flame,  and  raised  such  troubles  in 
England.  This  was  the  theology  contained  in  it,*  "  That  all 
happens  by  necessity  :  that  he,  a  long  while,  spurned  at  this  doc- 
trine, because  it  was  contrary  to  the  liberty  of  God  ;  but,  at  last, 
was  obliged  to  yield,  and  acknowledge  at  the  same  time,  that  all 
the  sins  committed  in  the  world  are  necessary  and  inevitable  :"(" 
that  God  could  not  prevent  the  sin  of  the  first  man,  nor  forgive 
it  without  Jesus  Christ's  satisfaction,  but  then  it  was  impossible 
the  Son  of  God  should  not  become  incarnate,  should  not  satisfy, 
should  not  die  :  that  God  indeed  might  have  done  otherwise, 
had  he  willed  it,  but  he  could  not  will  otherwise  ;  that  he  could 
not  but  forgive  man  ;  that  the  sins  of  man  proceeded  from  se- 
duction and  ignorance,  and  so  it  was  requisite  of  necessity,  that 
the  divine  wisdom  should  put  on  flesh  to  repair  them.  That 
Jesus  Christ  could  not  save  the  devils  ;  that  their  sin  was  a  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost :  J  that  to  save  them,  it  would  have  been 
necessary  the  Holy  Ghost  should  have  become  incarnate,  which 
was  absolutely  impossible  ;  therefore,  that§  no  possible  means 
were  left  of  saving  the  devils  in  general.  That  nothing  was 
possible  to  God,  but  what  actually  came  to  pass  ;  that  the  power 
admitted  for  things,  which  did  not  happen,  was  an  illusion.  That 
God  can  produce  nothing  within  himself,  which  he  does  not 
necessarily  produce,  nor  out  of  himself,  which  he  does  not  like- 
wise necessarily  produce  in  its  time.  That  when  Jesus  Christ 
said,  he  could  ask  of  his  Father  more  than  twelve  legions  of 
angels,  you  must  understand  he  could  if  he  would,  but  must  ac- 
knowledge at  the  same  time  he  could  not  will  it.  ||  That  the 
power  of  God  is  limited  in  the  main,  and  is  no  otherwise  infinite 
than  because  there  is  no  greater  power :  in  a  vvord,  that  the 
world,  and  all  which  exists, IT  is  of  absolute  necessity,  and  were 
there  any  thing  possible  that  God  should  refuse  a  being  to,  he 
would  be  either  impotent  or  envious  ;  and  as  he  could  not  refuse 
a  being  to  any  thing  capable  thereof,  so  can  he  annihilate  noth- 
ing.**    That  we  ought  not  to  ask  why  God  does  not  hinder  sin 

*  Lib.  iii.  c.  vii.  viii.  xxiii.  pp.  56,  82.  Edit.  1525.        f  Ibid.  c.  xxiv.  xxv.  p. 
85,  &c.      X  Lib.  c.  xxvii.  lib.  i.  c.  x.  p.  15.      §  Ibid.  c.  xi.  p.  18.      ||  Ibid.  c.  ii. 
IT  Ibid.  c.  iv.    Ibid.  c.  x.  p.  16.  **  Ibid.  c.  iv.    lb.  c.  x.  Lib.  iii.  c.  ix. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  119 

— the  reason  is,  because  he  cannot ;  nor,  in  general,  why  he 
does  or  does  not  such  a  thing — because  he  does  necessarily  all 
he  can  do  :  yet  is  he  nevertheless  free,*  but  in  like  manner,  as 
he  is  free  to  produce  his  Son,  whom  nevertheless  he  produces 
necessarily.  That  the  liberty,  so  called,  of  contradiction,! 
whereby  you  may  do  a  thing  or  not  do  it,  J  is  an  erroneous  term 
introduced  by  the  doctors  ;  euid  the  imagination  we  have  of  our 
being  free,  is  a  perpetual  illusion  like  to  that  of  a  child  who  thinks 
he  walks  alone  whilst  led  :  yet  we  deliberate, §  we  consult  about 
our  affairs,  we  damn  our  souls,  but  all  this  is  inevitable,  no  less 
than  all  that  is  done  or  omitted  in  the  world  either  by  the  crea- 
ture, [|  or  by  God  himself.  That  God  has  determined  every 
thing,  and  necessitates,  as  well  the  predestinated  as  the  repro- 
bate to  all  they  do,?!  as  also  each  particular  creature  to  its  sev- 
eral actions  ;  and  thence  it  happens  that  there  are  elect  and  rep- 
robate ;  and  thus  it  is  not  in  God's  power  to  save  one  single 
reprobate.**  That  he  laughs  at  what  is  said  in  schools,  de  sensu 
composito  et  diviso,  seeing  that  God  can  save  none  but  such  as 
are  saved  actually  ;'|"|  that  there  is  a  necessary  consequence  for 
sinninsr  if  certain  thinsjs  fall  out ;  that  God  wills  these  thino;s  to 
happen,  and  that  this  consequence  be  good,  because  otherwise 
it  would  not  be  necessary  :  so  he  wills  you  should  sin,  and  wills 
sin  on  account  of  the  good  he  draws  from  it ;  and  although  it 
does  not  please  God  that  Peter  should  sin,  yet  the  sin  of  Peter 
pleases  him  :  JJ  that  God  approves  sinning  ;  that  he  necessitates 
to  sin.  That  man  can  do  no  better  than  he  does  ;  that  sinners 
and  the  damned  are  nevertheless  beholden  to  God,  who  shows 
mercy  to  the  damned  in  giving  them  existence,  which  is  more 
advantageous  to,  and  to  be  wished  for  by  them  than  non-exist- 
ence :  that  indeed,  he  dares  not  wholly  ascertain  this  opinion, 
nor  push  men  on  to  sin  by  teaching  that  it  is  agreeable  to  God 
they  should  thus  sin,  and  that  God  allows  it  them  as  a  recom- 
pense ;  he  being  aware§§  that  the  wicked  might  take  occasion, 
from  this  doctrine,  to  commit  grievous  crimes,  which,  if  they 
may,  they  will  commit :  but  if  no  better  reasons  are  given  him 
than  what  are  commonly  alleged,  he  shall  abide  confirmed  in  his 
sentiment  without  uttering  a  word." 

You  see  thereby,  he  feels  a  secret  hoiTor  of  the  blasphemies 
he  vents  ;  but  he  is  hurried  into  them  by  the  spirit  of  pride  and 
singularity  to  which  he  had  abandoned  himself,  nor  does  he 
know  how  to  restrain  the  transports  of  his  pen.  This  is  a  faith- 
ful extract  of  his  blasphemies ;  they  are  reduced  to  two  heads, 
to  make  a  God  overruled  by  necessity,  and,  what  is  a  conse- 

♦  Lib.  i.  c.  X.        t  lb.  c.  xi.        |  lb.  c.  x.       §  Ibid.       ||  lb.  lib.  iii.  c.  ix. 

IT  lb.  i.  c.  xiv.  Lib.  iii.  c.  iv.  **  Ibid.  c.  viii.  ff  Ibid.  c.  iv. 

J  J  Ibid.  c.  vi.  viii.    lb.  c.  iv.  §§  Ibid,  c  viii. 


120  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

quence  from  thence,  a  God,  author  and  approver  of  all  crimes; 
namely,  a  God  whom  the  atheists  would  have  reason  to  deny  :  so 
that  the  religion  of  so  great  a  reformer  is  worse  than  atheism. 

At  the  same  time  may  be  seen  how  many  of  his  Dogmas 
were  followed  by  Luther.    As  for  Calvin  and  the  Calvinists,  we 
shall  see  them  hereafter  ;  nor,  in  this  sense,  is  it  in  vain  that  they 
have  reckoned  this  impious  wretch  among  their  predecessors. 
154. — He  imitates  the  false  piety  of  the  Vaudois. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  blasphemies,  he  was  for  imitating 
the  false  piety  of  the  Vaudois,  by  attributing  the  effect  of  the 
sacraments  to  personal  merit  :*  saying,  "  The  keys  did  not  ope- 
rate except  in  the  hands  of  holy  persons  ;  and  those  who  do  not 
imitate  Jesus  Christ  cannot  have  the  power  of  them  :  that, 
nevertheless,  this  power  is  not  lost  in  the  Church  ;  that  it  sub- 
sists in  the  humble  and  unknown  :  that  laymen  may  consecrate 
and  administer  the  sacraments  -.^^  that  it  is  a  great  crime  in 
churchmen  to  possess  temporal  goods,  a  great  crime  in  princes 
to  have  bestowed  such  on  them,  and  not  to  employ  their  authority 
to  take  them  from  the  clergy."  Here  you  have  in  an  English- 
man, if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  it,  the  first  pattern  of  the  Eng- 
lish Reformation,  and  church  plundering.  Some  will  say,  it  is 
self-interest  we  here  combat  for  ;  no,  we  do  but  discover  the 
mischievousness  of  extravagant  minds,  which,  as  we  see,  are 
capable  of  every  excess. 

155. — Wickliff^s  Doctrine  not  calumjiiated  at  the  Council  of  Constance. 

M.  la  Roque  pretends,  WicklifF  was  calumniated  at  the 
Council  of  Constance, J  and  that  propositions,  which  he  did  not 
believe,  were  laid  to  his  charge,  this  amongst  the  rest:  "  God 
is  obliged  to  obey  the  Devil."  But  if  we  find  so  many  blas- 
phemies in  one  only  work  that  remains  of  Wickliff,  we  may 
easily  believe  there  were  many  others  in  his  books,  so  very 
numerous  at  that  time  ;  and  particularly  as  for  this,  it  is  a  mani- 
fest consequence  from  the  above  doctrine,  forasmuch  as  God,  in 
all  things  acting  by  necessity,  is  drawn  by  the  will  of  the  devil  to 
do  certain  things  when  obliged  of  necessity  to  concur  to  them. 
156. — Wickliff^ s  pernicious  Doctrine  concerning  Kings. 

Neither  do  we  find,  in  the  Trialogue,  that  proposition  imputed 
to  Wickliff,§  "  that  a  king  ceased  to  be  a  king  by  the  commis- 
sion of  a  mortal  sin."  There  were  other  books  enough  of  Wick- 
liflf  whence  this  might  be  taken.  In  fact  we  have  a  conference 
between  the  Catholics  of  Bohemia  and  the  Calixtins,  in  presence 
of  King  George  Pogiebrac,  wherein  Hilary,  Dean  of  Prague, 
maintains  to  Roquesane,]]  chief  of  the  Calixtins,  that  Wickliff 

*  Lib.  iv.  c.  X.  xiv.  xxiii.  xxv.  xxxii.  f  Ibid.  c.  xvii.  >'viii.  xix.  xxiv. 

I  Hist,  de  Euch.  Cone.  Const.  Sess.  viii.  prop.  6.         §  Ibid.  prop.  xv. 

II  Disput.  cum.  Rokys.  apud.    Canis.  ant.  lect.  t.  iii.  p.  ii.  p.  474. 


XI.]  THE   VARIATIONS,    ETC.  121 

had  written  in  express  terms,  "  that  an  old  woman  might  be  king 
and  pope,  were  she  better  and  more  virtuous  than  the  pope  and 
king  ;  and  in  such  cases  she  might  say  to  the  king,  '  Rise  vp, 
I  am  more  worthy  than  thou  to  sit  upon  the  throne.'  "  Upon 
Roquesane's  answering  this  was  not  WickiifPs  meaning,  the 
same  Hilary  offered  to  show  these  propositions  to  the  whole 
assembly,  and  this  besides  ;*  "  that  whosoever  is,  by  his  virtue, 
the  most  praiseworthy,  is  also  the  most  worthy  in  dignity,  and 
the  most  holy  old  woman  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  most  holy 
employment."  Roquesane  stood  mute,  and  the  fact  passed  for 
incontestable. 

157. — Such  of  Wickliffh  Articles  as  were  conformable  to  our  Doctrine. 

The  same  Wickliff|  consented  to  the  invocation  of  saints, 
honored  their  images,  acknowledged  their  merits,  and  believed 
in  purgatory. 

As  for  the  Eucharist,  what  he  most  contended  against  was 
transubstantiation,  which  he  said  was  the  most  detestable  heresy 
that  ever  had  been  broached.  Wherefore,  it  is  his  great  article 
that  bread  is  in  this  sacrament.  With  respect  to  the  Real  Pres- 
ence, he  has  some  things  for,  and  some  against  it.  He  says, 
"  The  body  is  hidden  in  each  morsel  and  crumb  of  bread."  In 
another  place,  after  saying  according  to  his  cursed  maxim,  that 
the  sanctity  of  the  minister  is  necessary  to  a  valid  consecration, 
he  adds,  "  you  must  presume  for  the  sanctity  of  priests  ;  but," 
says  he,  "  on  account  that  we  have  but  a  bare  probability  of  it, 
I  adore  conditionally  the  host  which  I  see,  and  adore  absolutely 
Jesus  Christ  who  is  in  heaven."  He  does  not,  therefore,  doubt 
of  the  Presence,  but  inasmuch  as  he  is  not  certain  of  the  holi- 
ness of  the  minister,  which  he  believes  absolutely  necessary 
thereto.  Other  such  like  passages  may  be  found  in  him,  but  it 
is  of  httle  consequence  to  know  more  of  them. 

158. — Wickliff^s  Confession  of  Faith  produced  by  J\L  de  la  Roque,  son  of  the 

Minister. 

A  fact  of  greater  importance  is  advanced  by  M.  la  Roque, 
junior.  J  He  produces  a  confession  of  faith,  wherein  the  Real 
Presence  is  clearly  owned,  and  transubstantiation  no  less  clearly 
rejected  ;  but  most  material  of  all  is  what  he  affirms,  that  this 
confession  of  faith  was  proposed  to  Wickliff  in  the  Council  of 
London,  where  happened  that  great  earthquake,  called  for  that 
reason  concilium  terrce  motus  ;  some  saying  the  earth  had  a  horror 
of  the  bishop's  decision,  and  others,  of  Wickliff's  heresy. 
159. — Proved  false  from  Wickliff  himself. 

But  without  further  examination  of  this  confession  of  faith,  of 

*  Disput.  cum.  Rokys.  apud.     Canis.  ant.  lect.  t.  iii.  p.  ii.  p.  500. 
t  Lib.  iii.  c.  30.  Lib.  xi.  14.  Lib.  iii.  5.  iv.  6,  7, 40, 41.  Lib.  iv.  1, 6.  Lib.  iv.  c.  1. 
X  Nouv.  ace.  Cont  M.  Yarril.  p.  73. 
VOL.  II.  11 


122  THE    HISTORY    OF      '  [bOOK 

which  we  shall  speak  with  more  certainty  when  we  shall  have 
seen  it  entire,  I  may  ventm-e  to  say  beforehand,  that  it  could 
not  have  been  proposed  to  WicklifF  by  the  council.  I  prove  it 
from  WickliiThimself,*  who  repeats  four  times,  that "  in  the  Coun- 
cil of  London,  where  the  earth  trembled,"  in  sno  concilio  terrcB 
motus ;  it  was  defined  in  express  terms,  "  that  the  substance  of 
bread  and  wine  did  not  remain  after  consecration  ;"  wherefore 
it  is  more  clear  than  the  day,  that  the  confession  of  faith  wherein 
is  rejected  this  change  of  substance,  can  never  be  of  this  council. 

160. — Wickliff  renounces  his  Doctrine  and  dies  in  the  external  Communion  of 

the  Church. 

I  take  M.  la  Roque  for  a  man  of  too  great  sincerity  not  to 
yield  to  so  clear  a  proof.  Meanwhile,  we  are  obliged  to  him 
for  sparing  us  the  trouble  of  proving  here  the  faintheartedness 
of  WicklifF;  his  recantation  in  the  presence  of  the  council; 
that  "  of  his  disciples,  who  at  first  had  no  more  resolution  than 
he  ;  the  shame  he  conceived  at  his  dastardly  comportment  in 
departing  from  the  notions  then  received,"!  which  made  him 
break  off  all  commerce  with  men ;  so  that,  since  his  retraction, 
you  hear  no  more  mention  of  him  ;  and,  finally,  his  dying  in  his 
cure,  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  function,  which  proves,  as  also 
does  his  burial  in  hallowed  ground,  that  he  died  externally  in 
the  communion  of  the  Church. 

I  have,  therefore,  no  more  to  do  but  conclude  with  this  author, 
that  Protestants  can  reap  nothing  but  shame  from  Wickliff's  con- 
duct, J  "  who  either  was  an  hypocritical  prevaricator,  or  a  Roman 
Catholic  ;  who  died  in  the  church  even  whilst  he  assisted  at  the 
sacrifice  accounted  the  mark  of  distinction  between  both  parties." 

161. — J\Ielancthon''s  sentiment  concerning  Wickliff. 
Those  who  have  a  mind  to  know  Melancthon's  opinion  of 
Wickliff,  will  find  it  in  the  Preface  to  his  "  Commonplaces," 
where  he  says,§  "  You  may  judge  of  WicklifT's  spirit  by  the 
errors  he  abounds  with.  He  understood  nothing,"  says  he,  *'  of 
the  justice  of  faith  ;  he  makes  a  jumble  of  gospel  and  politics  ; 
he  maintains  it  unlawful  for  priests  to  have  anything  of  their 
own  ;  he  speaks  of  the  civil  power  after  a  seditious  manner,  and 
full  of  sophistry ;  with  the  same  sophistry  he  cavils  about  the 
universally  received  opinion  touching  our  Lord's  Supper."  This 
is  what  Melancthon  said,  after  reading  Wickliff.  He  would  have 
said  more,  and  not  spared  this  author,  as  well  deciding  against 
free-will,  as  making  God  the  author  of  sin,  had  he  not  feared, 
in  reproving  him  for  these  excesses,  he  should  defame  his  mas- 
ter, Luther,  under  Wickliff 's  name. 

+  Lib.  V.  c.  36,  37,  38.         f  La  Roque,  lb.  70.  lb.  pp.  81,  85,  88,  S9,  90. 
X  La  Roque,  lb.         §  Prsef.  ad  Mycon.  Hosp.  p.  ii.  ad  An.  1350,  f.  115. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  123 

THE  HISTORY  OF  JOHN  HUSS  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES. 
162. — John  Huss  imitates  Wicklijf  in  his  hatred  of  the  Pope. 
W  hat  raised  WicklifF  to  so  high  a  station  among  the  prede- 
cessors of  our  Reformed,  was  his  teaching  that  the  Pope  was 
antichrist,  and  that  ever  since  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand, 
when  Satan  was  to  be  let  loose,  according  to  St.  John's  prophesy,, 
the  Church  of  Rome  was  become  the  whore  of  Babylon.    John 
Huss,  the  disciple  of  Wickliff,*  has  merited  the  same  honors, 
in  having  so  closely  followed  his  master  in  this  doctrine. 

163. — John  Htiss  says  Mass,  and  has  no  other  sentiments  in  respect  of  the  Eu- 
charist than  those  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 

In  other  points  he  forsook  him.  Heretofore  there  was  a  dis- 
pute concerning  his  sentiments  on  the  Eucharist.  But  the  ques- 
tion is  adjudged  by  our  adversaries'  consent ;  M.  la  Roque 
having  shown,  in  his  history  of  the  Eucharist,!  from  the  authors 
of  those  times,  from  the  testimony  of  Huss's  first  disciples,  from 
his  own  writings,  still  extant,  that  he  believed  transubstantiation, 
and  all  the  other  articles  of  the  Roman  faith,  not  one  excepted, 
unless  communion  under  both  kinds  ;  and  that  he  persisted  in 
these  sentiments  even  unto  death.  The  same  minister  demon- 
strates the  same  thing  in  relation  to  Jerome  of  Prague,  the  dis- 
ciple of  John  Huss,  and  the  fact  admits  of  no  doubt. 

184. — Why  Huss^s  Doctrine  came  to  be  doubted  of. 

V^Tiat  gave  occasion  to  doubt  of  John  Huss,  were  some  words 

he  had  uttered  inconsiderately,  and  which  were  misunderstood, 

or  retracted  by  him.     But  what  more  than  all  the  rest  caused 

him  to  be  suspected  in  this  matter  was,  the  excessive  praises  he 

gave  Wickliff,  the  enemy  of  transubstantiation.     WicklifF,  in 

reality,  was  the  great  doctor  of  John  Huss  and  all  the  Hussite 

party  :  but  certain  it  is,  they  did  not  follow  his  doctrine,  crude 

as  it  was,  but  strove  to  explain  it,  as  did  John  Huss,  whom 

Rudiger  J  praises  for  having  explained  artfully,  and  courageously 

defended  the  sentiments  of  WicklifF.     It  was,  therefore,  agreed 

on  in  the  party,  that  WicklifF,  who,  to  speak  the  truth,  was  the 

head  thereof,  had  carried  matters  much  too  far,  and  stood  greatly 

in  need  of  explanation.     But  however  that  may  be,  it  is  very 

certain  John  Huss  gloried  in  his  priesthood  to  the  very  last,  and 

never  intermitted  saying  Mass  when  able. 

165. — John  Huss  a  Catholic  in  all  the  controverted  points,  except  Communion 
under  both  kinds,  and  the  Pope''s  authority. 

M.  la  Roque,  junior,  upholds  strenuously  his  father's  senti- 
ments ;  and  is  even  sincere  enough  to  own,  that  "  they  are  dis- 
pleasing to  several  of  the  party,  and  especially  to  the  famous 
Mr. ,  who  generally  did  not  relish  truths  which  had  es- 

*  Wick.  lib.  iv.  c.  1.,  &c.     f  Part  ii.  th.  xLx.  p.  484.     J  R,udig.  Narr.  p.  153. 


124  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

caped  his  notice."*  Every  body  knows  it  was  Mr.  Claude  whose 
name  he  suppressed.  But  this  young  author  carries  his  re- 
searches much  farther  than  any  Protestant  had  done  before. 
None  can  any  longer  doubt,  after  the  proofs  which  he  alleges, 
that  John  Huss  prayed  to  saints,  honored  their  images,  ac- 
knowledged the  merit  of  works,  the  seven  sacraments,  sacra- 
mental confession,  and  purgatory."]"  The  dispute  chiefly  turned 
on  communion  under  both  kinds ;  and,  what  was  of  the  most 
importance,  on  that  damnable  doctrine  of  Wickliff,  that  authority, 
and  especially  ecclesiastical  authority,  was  lost  by  sin  ;  for  John 
Huss  maintained,  on  this  head,  things  as  extravagant  as  those 
advanced  by  Wickliff,  and  thence  it  was  he  drew  his  pernicious 
consequences. 

166. — Jill  goes  doion  loith  Protestants,  provided  you  inveigh  against  the  Pope. 

If,  with  such  a  doctrine,  and  saying  Mass  besides,  every  day 
to  the  end  of  his  life,  a  man  may  not  only  be  a  true  behever,  but 
also  a  saint  and  martyr,  (as  all  Protestants  proclaim  John  Huss, 
no  less  than  Jerome  of  Prague,  his  disciple,)  there  is  no  need 
of  more  disputing  about  fundamental  articles  :  the  only  funda- 
mental article  is,  to  cry  out  amain  against  the  Pope  and  Church 
of  Rome  ;  but  if  with  Wickliff  and  John  Huss  you  stretch  so 
far  as  to  call  that  church  the  Church  of  Antichrist,  this  doctrine 
is  the  remission  of  all  sins  whatever,  and  covers  all  kinds  of  errors. 

IG7.— The  Taborites. 

Let  us  return  to  the  Brethren  of  Bohemia,  and  see  how  they 
are  the  disciples  of  John  Huss.  Immediately  after  his  con- 
demnation and  execution,  two  sects  were  seen  to  arise  under 
his  name,  the  sect  of  Calixtins  and  the  sect  of  Taborites  :  the 
Calixtins  under  Roquesane,  who  by  the  joint  consent  of  all,  as 
well  Catholic  as  Protestant  authors,  was,  under  the  pretext  of 
reformation,  the  most  ambitious  of  all  mankind  :  the  Taborites 
under  Zisca,  whose  sanguinary  actions  are  not  less  known  than 
his  valor  and  success.  Without  inquiring  into  the  doctrine  of 
the  Taborites,  their  rebellions  and  cruelty  have  made  them 
odious  to  the  greatest  part  of  Protestants.  Men  that  carried 
fire  and  sword  into  the  bowels  of  their  country  for  twenty  years 
together,  and  whose  marches  may  be  traced  by  the  blood  and 
ashes  they  left  behind,  are  not  over  qualified  to  be  held  for  the 
principal  defenders  of  the  truth,  nor  to  give  an  origin  to  Christian 
Churches.  J  Rudiger,  who  alone  of  the  sect,  for  want  of  better 
knowledge,  would  have  the  Bohemian  brethren  descended  from 
the  Taborites,§  acknowledges  "  that  Zisca,  pushed  on  by  his 
particular  enmities,  carried  the  hatred  he  had  against  the  monks 

*  Nouv.  ace.  cont.  Varr.  pp.  148,  150.  j  lb.  p.  158,  et  seq.  Cone.  Const. 
Sess.  XV.  prop.  11,  12,  13,  &c.       |  De  Frat  Narrat.  p.  158.         §  lb.  155. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  125 

and  priests  so  far,  that  he  not  only  set  fire  to  churches  and  mon- 
asteries, wherein  they  served  God,  but  also,  in  order  to  leave 
them  no  dwelling-place  on  earth,  caused  all  the  inhabitants  of 
those  places  they  possessed  to  be  put  to  the  sword."  This  is 
what  Rudiger*  says,  an  unsuspected  author  ;  to  which  he  adds, 
that  the  brethren,  whom  he  makes  to  descend  from  these  bar- 
barous Taborites,  were  ashamed  of  this  parentage.  Accord- 
ingly, they  renounce  it  in  all  their  Confessions  of  Faith  and 
Apologies,  and  show  even  it  is  impossible  they  should  have 
sprung  from  the  Taborites,!  because  at  the  time  they  began  to 
appear,  this  sect,  in  a  manner  crushed  by  the  death  of  its  gen- 
erals and  the  universal  pacification  of  the  Catholics  and  Calix- 
tins,  (who  united  the  whole  powers  of  the  state  in  order  to  de- 
molish them,)  "  held  but  jn  a  lingering  state  till  Pogiebrac  and 
Roquesane  entirely  brought  their  miserable  remains  to  destruc- 
tion ;  insomuch,"  say  they,  "  that  no  more  Taborites,  were  left 
on  earth,"  which  is  confirmed  by  Camerarius  in  his  history.J 

IQ8.— The  Calixtins. 

The  other  sect,  that  prided  itself  in  the  name  of  John  Huss, 
was  that  of  the  Calixtins,  so  called,  because  they  believed  the 
Chalice  was  absolutely  necessary  for  the  people.  And  it  is  un- 
doubtedly from  this  sect  that  the  Brethren  proceeded  in  1457, 
as  they  themselves  declared  in  the  preface  to  their  Confession 
of  Faith  of  1558,  and  again,  in  that  of  1572,  so  frequently  cited 
by  us,  where  they  speak  in  these  terms, §  "  Those  who  founded 
our  Churches,  sepai-ated  themselves  at  that  time  from  the  Ca- 
lixtins by  a  new  separation  ;"  their  meaning  was,  as  by  them 
explained  in  their  apology  of  1532,  that  as  the  Calixtins  had 
'separated  themselves  from  Rome,  so  the  Brethren  separated 
from  the  Calixtins ;  so  that  this  was  a  schism  and  division,  in 
another  division  and  schism.  But  what  were  the  causes  for  this 
separation  ?  there  is  no  comprehending  them  aright  without 
knowing  both  the  belief  and  condition  the  Calixtins  were  in  at 
that  time. 

169. — The  Compadatum  or  Articles  agreed  to  by  the  Council  of  Basil. 

Their  doctrine  at  first  consisted  in  four  articles.  The  first 
concerned  the  cup  ;  the  other  three  regarded  the  correction  of 
public  and  particular  sins,  which  they  carried  to  some  excess  ; 
the  free  preaching  of  the  word  of  God,  from  which,  they  main- 
tained, none  could  be  precluded  ;  and  Church-revenues.  Herein 
was  a  smack  of  the  Yaudois  errors.  These  four  articles  were 
regulated  in  the  council  of  Basil,  after  such  a  manner  as  the 
Calixtins  were  contented  with,  and  the  cup  granted  them  on  cer- 

*  De  Frat.  Narrat.  p.  155.  f  Praef.  Confess.  1572.  seu.  de  orig.  Eccl. 

Boh.  &c.  post.  1  Hist.  Camer.  init.  Prsef.  p.  176.  §  lb.  p.  267.  Pr»f  Boh. 
Conf.  1558.     Syat.  Gen.  p.  164.     Apol.  Frat.  1.  part,  ap.    Lyd.  t.  ii.  p.  129. 

VOL.  II.  11  * 


126  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

tain  terms  which  they  agreed  to.  This  agreement  was  called 
Compactatum,  a  name  famous  in  the  history  of  Bohemia.  But 
one  part  of  the  Hussites,  not  resting  contented  with  these  arti- 
cles, began,  under  the  name  of  Taborites,  those  bloody  wars 
just  mentioned  ;  and  the  Calixtins,  the  other  part  of  the  Hussites, 
which  had  accepted  the  agreement,  stood  not  to  it ;  for  instead 
of  declaring,  as  they  had  agreed  at  Basil,  that  the  cup  was  neither 
necessary  nor  commanded  by  Jesus  Christ,  they  pressed  the 
necessity  thereof,  even  in  regard  to  new-baptized  children.* 
This  point  excepted,  it  is  allowed  the  Calixtins  agreed  in  all 
dogmas  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  their  disputes  with  the 
Taborites  prove  as  much.  Lydius,  a  minister  of  Dort,  has 
collected  the  acts  thereof,  which  are  not  called  in  question  by 
Protestants. 

170. — The  Calixtins  disposed  to  own  the  Pope. 

In  them  therefore  it  may  be  seen,  that  the  Calixtins  not  only 
allow  transubstantiation,  but  also  with  relation  to  the  Eucharist, 
all  and  every  part  of  the  doctrine  and  usages  received  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  communion  only  under  both  kinds  excepted ; 
and  should  that  be  granted  by  the  Pope,  they  were  ready  to 
acknowledge  his  authority. I 

171. — Wherefore  then  did  they  so  much  respect  the  memory  of  Wickliff? 

Here  the  query  might  be  put,  their  sentiments  being  such, 
how  they  could  retain  so  great  a  respect  for  Wickliff  as  to  call 
him  by  excellence,  as  the  Taborites  did,  the  evangelical  doctor? 
the  reason  in  short  was,  because  we  find  nothing  regular  in  these 
separated  sects.  Although  Wickliff  had  inveighed  with  all  the 
passion  imaginable  against  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  in  particu- 
lar against  transubstantiation,  the  Calixtins  excused  him, J  by 
answering,  what  he  had  said  against  this  dogma  was  not  spoken 
decisively  but  scholastically,  by  way  of  dispute  ;  whereby  we 
may  judge  how  easy  a  matter  they  found  it  to  justify,  say  what 
you  would,  an  author  with  whom  they  were  infatuated. 

172. — The  ambition  of  Roquesane  and  the  Calixtins  hinders  their  reunion  with 

the  Church. 

For  all  that,  they  were  not  the  less  disposed  to  submit  to  the 
Pope's  authority,  and  Roquesane's  interests  alone  prevented 
their  reunion.  This  doctor  himself  had  been  contriving  the  rec- 
onciliation,  in  hopes,  after  so  great  a  service,  that  the  Pope 
would  be  easily  inclined  to  confer  on  him  the  Archbishopric  of 
Prague,  which  he  much  ambitioned.§  But  the  Pope,  unwilling 
to  trust  the  care  of  souls  and  depositum  of  faith  to  so  factious 
a  person,  invested  Budvix  with  this  prelacy,  as  much  Roque- 

*  I.yd.  Wald.  t.  1.  Rotcro.  1616. 

t  Syn.  Praijue.  An.  1431,  ap  Lyd.  p.  304,  et  An.  1434.  Ibid.  pp.  332,  354. 

i  Ibid.  p.  472.  §  Cam.  Hist.  Narr.  Apol.  Frat  p.  115,  &c. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  127 

sane'«5  superior  in  merit  as  in  birth.  This  ruined  all.  Bohe- 
mia saw  herself  reinvolved  in  more  bloody  wars  than  ever. 
Roquesane,  in  spite  of  the  Pope,  set  himself  up  for  Archbishop 
of  Prague,  or  rather  for  Pope  in  Bohemia ;  nor  could  Pogie- 
brac,  whom  he  had  raised  to  the  throne  by  his  intrigues,  refuse 
him  any  thing. 

173. — Origin  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  loho  separate  from  Roquesane  and  the 

Calixtins. 

During  these  disturbances,  the  tradesmen  who  had  begun  to 
grumble  in  the  precedent  reign,  set  themselves  more  than  ever 
to  confer  among  themselves  concerning  the  Reformation  of  the 
Church.    The  Mass,  transubstantiation,  prayer  for  the  dead,  the 
veneration  of  saints,  but  especially  the  power  of  the  Pope,  were 
offensive  to  them.     In  fine,  they  complained  that  the  "  Calixtins 
romanized  in  every  thing  except  the  cup."*     They  undertook 
to  correct  them.     Roquesane,  incensed  against  the  Holy  See, 
seemed  to  them  a  proper  instrument  to  manage  this  affair.! 
Shocked  with  his  haughty  answer,  which  savored  of  nothing  but 
love  of  this  world,  they  reproached  him  with  his  ambition  ;  that 
he  was  a  mere  worldling,  who  would  sooner  abandon  them  than 
his  honors.     At  the  same  time  they  placed  at  their  head  one 
Kelesiski,  a  master-shoemaker,  who  drew  up  for  them  a  body 
of  Doctrine  called  the  Forms  of  Kelesiski.     Afterwards  they 
chose  themselves  a  pastor  named  Matthias  Convalde,  a  lay  and 
ignorant  person  :  and  in  1467,  divided  openly  from  the  Calix- 
tins, as  the  Calixtins  had  done  from  Rome.    Such  was  the  birth 
of  the   Bohemian  Brethren  ;  and  this  is  what  Camerarius  and 
they  themselves,  as  well  in  their  Annals  as  in  their  Apologies 
and  Prefaces  to  their  Confessions  of  Faith,  relate  of  their  origin, 
except  that  they  date  their  separation  from  the  year  1457  ;  and 
it  seems  to  me  more  proper  to  fix  it  ten  years  after,  in  1467,  at 
the  time  they  themselves  date  the  creation  of  their  new  pastors. 
174, — Weak  beginnings  of  this  Sect. 
I  find  here  some  little  contradiction  between  what  they  relate 
of  their  history  in  their  Apology  of  1532,  and  what  they  say  in 
the  Preface  of  1572.  J  For  they  say  in  this  Preface  that  in  1457, 
at  the  time  they  separated  from  the  Calixtins,  they  were  a  people 
collected  from  all  manner  of  degrees  :   and  in  their  Apology  of 
1532,  wherein  they  were  somewhat  less  assuming,  they  own 
frankly,§  they  were  made  up  "  of  the  meaner  sort,  and  of  some 
Bohemian  priests  in  small  number,  all  put  together  but  a  hand- 
ful of  men,  a  small  remnant,  and  the  despicable  refuse,"  or, 
translate  it  as  you  please,  "  Miserabilis  qmsquilicz^  left  in  the 

+  Apol.  1532,  part  1.  t  Camer.  de  Eccl.  Frat.  pp.  64,  84,  &c.     Apol. 

Frat.  1532,  part  1.        %  De  orig.  Eccl.  Boh.  post.  Hist.  Camer.  p.  267,  part  i. 
§  Apol.  Lyd.  t.  ii.  221,  222,  232,  &c. 


128  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

world  by  John  Huss."  Thus  did  they  separate  from  the  Ca- 
lixtins,  that  is,  from  the  only  Hussites  then  in  being.  Thus  it 
is  thr.t  they  are  the  disciples  of  John  Huss ;  a  piece  broken 
from  a  piece  ;  a  schism  cut  off  from  a  schism  ;  Hussites  divided 
from  Hussites,  and  retaining  scarce  any  thing  of  them  but  their 
disobedience  and  rupture  from  the  Church  of  Rome. 
175. — They  only  took  the  name  of  John  Huss,  andfolloived  not  his  Doctrine. 
Should  it  be  asked,  how  they  could  own  John  Huss,  as  they 
every  where  do,  for  an  evangelical  doctor,  for  a  holy  martyr,  for 
their  master,  and  the  apostle  of  the  Bohemians,  and  at  the  same 
time  reject,  as  sacrilegious,  the  Mass,  which  their  apostle  con- 
stantly said  to  the  last,  Transubstantiation,  and  the  other  dogmas 
he  had  always  adhered  so  closely  to  :  their  answer  is,*  "  that 
John  Huss  had  but  begun  the  re-establishment  of  the  gospel," 
and  they  beUeved,  "  had  time  been  given  him,  he  would  have 
changed  a  great  deal  more."  Still  he  failed  not  to  be  a  martyr 
and  apostle,  though  he  persevered,  according  to  them,  in  such 
damnable  practices,  and  the  Brethren  celebrated  his  martydom 
in  their  churches  the  eighth  of  July,  as  we  are  informed  by 
Rudiger.! 

176. — Their  extreme  ignorance,  and  their  presumption  in  pretending  to  rebap- 

tize  the  lohole  world. 

CamerariusJ  acknowledges  their  extreme  ignorance,  but  says 
what  he  can  in  excuse  thereof.  This  we  may  hold  for  certain, 
that  God  wrought  no  miracles  to  enlighten  them.  So  many 
ages  after  the  question  of  rebaptizing  heretics  had  been  deter- 
mined by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  whole  Church,  they 
were  so  ignorant  as  to  rebaptize  "  all  those  that  came  to  them 
from,  other  churches."  They  persisted  in  this  error  for  the 
space  of  a  hundred  years,  as  they  own  in  all  their  writings,  and 
confess  in  the  Preface  of  1558,  that  it  was  but  a  little  while 
since  they  were  undeceived.  §  This  error  ought  not  to  be 
deemed  of  trivial  importance,  since  it  amounted  to  this,  that 
Baptism  was  lost  in  the  Universal  Church,  and  remained  only 
amongst  them.  Thus  presumptuous  in  their  notions  were  two 
or  three  thousand  men,  who  had  more  or  less  equally  revolted 
against  the  Calixtins,  amongst  whom  they  had  lived,  and  against 
the  Church  of  Rome,  from  which  both  of  them  had  divided  thirty 
or  forty  years  before.  So  small  a  parcel  of  another  parcel,  dis- 
mem.bered  so  few  years  from  the  Catholic  Church,  dared  to  re- 
baptize  the  remainder  of  the  universe,  and  reduce  the  inheritance 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  a  corner  of  Bohemia  !     They  believed  them- 

*  Apo.  1532,  part  i.  ap.  Lyd.  t  ii.  pp.  116,  117,  118,  &c.  t  ^^^-  Narr. 
post.  Gamer.  Hist.  p.  151.  I  Cam.  Hist.  Narr.  p.  102.  Prajf.  Apol.  1538, 
apud  Lyd.  t.  ii.  p.  105.  §  Cam.  Hist.  Apol.  part  iv.  p.  27^4.  Conf.  fid. 

1558.  Art.  xii.  Synt.  Gen.  p.  195.  Ibid.  p.  170. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  129 

selves  therefore  the  only  Christians,  since  they  believed  that 
they  only  were  baptized ;  and  whatever  they  might  allege  in 
their  own  vindication,  their  rebaptization  condemned  them.  All 
they  had  to  answer  was,  if  they  rebaptized  the  Catholics,  the 
Catholics  also  rebaptized  them.  But  it  is  well  enough  known, 
that  the  Church  of  Rome  never  rebaptized  any  that  had  been 
baptized  by  any  person  whatsoever,  "  in  the  name  of  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost;"  and  supposing  there  had  been,  in  Bo- 
hemia, such  very  ignorant  Catholics  as  not  to  know  so  notorious 
a  thing,  ought  not  they,  who  called  themselves  their  Reformers, 
to  know  better  ?  After  all,  how  came  it  to  pass  that  these  new 
rebaptizers  did  not  cause  themselves  to  be  rebaptized  ?  If,  at 
their  coming  into  the  world,  Baptism  had  ceased  throughout 
all  Christendom,  that  which  they  had  received  was  no  higher 
in  value  than  that  of  their  neighbors,  and  by  invalidating  the 
Baptism  of  those  by  whom  they  were  baptized,  what  became  of 
their  own  ?  They  were  then  obliged  no  less  to  cause  themselves 
to  be  rebaptized,  than  to  rebaptize  the  rest  of  the  universe  :  and 
in  this  there  was  but  one  inconveniency ;  namely,  that,  accord- 
ing to  their  principles,  there  was  not  a  man  on  earth  that  could 
do  them  this  good  turn.  Baptism  being  equally  null  whatever 
side  it  came  from.  Thus  it  is  when  a  shoemaker  commences 
Reformer,  one,  as  themselves  acknowledge  in  a  Preface  to  their 
Confession  of  Faith,*  that  knew  not  a  word  of  Latin,  and  was 
no  less  presumptuous  than  ignorant.  These  are  the  men  whom 
Protestants  admire.  Does  the  question  turn  on  condemning 
the  Church  of  Rome  ? — they  never  cease  to  upbraid  her  with 
the  ignorance  of  her  priests  and  monks.  Is  the  question  re- 
garding the  ignorant  individuals  of  these  latter  ages,  who  have 
set  up  for  reforming  the  Church  by  schism  1 — they  are  fisher- 
men turned  apostles  :  although  their  ignorance  stand  eternally 
on  record,  from  the  first  step  they  took.  No  matter ;  if  we 
believe  the  Lutherans  in  the  Preface  they  placed  before  the 
Brethren's  Apology,  and  printed  at  Wittenberg  in  Luther's  time ; 
if,  I  say,  we  believe  them,  it  was  in  this  ignorant  society,  in  this 
handful  of  men,  that  "  The  Church  of  God  was  preserved  when 
she  was  thought  entirely  lost."! 

177. — Their  fruitless  search  over  all  the  universe  after  a  Church  of  their  Belief. 
Nevertheless,  these  remains  of  the  Church,  these  depositaries 
of  the  ancient  Christianity,  were  themselves  ashamed  that  they 
could  not  discover  in  the  whole  universe  a  Church  of  their  be- 
lief. Camerarius  informs  us,J  that  it  entered  into  their  thoughts 
at  the  beginning  of  their  separation,  to  make  inquiry  if  they  could 

*  Conf.  fid.  1558,  Synt.  Gen.  part  ii.  p.  164. 

t  Joan.  Euseb.  in  ora.  praefixa  Apo.  frat  sub  hoc  titulo :  CEconomia,  &c.  ap. 
Lyd.  t.  ii.  p.  95.  |  De  Eccl.  Frat.  p.  91. 


130  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

find,  in  some  place  of  the  earth,  and  chiefly  in  Greece  or  Ar- 
menia, or  some  other  part  of  the  east,  that  Christianity,  of  which 
the  west  was  utterly  bereft  according  to  their  sentiments.  At 
that  time,  many  Grecian  priests,  who  had  fled  to  Bohemia  from 
the  sacking  of  Constajitinople,  and  to  whom  Roquesane  gave 
reception  in  his  own  house,  had  leave  to  celebrate  the  holy  mys- 
teries according  to  the  rites  of  their  Church.  Therein  the  Breth- 
ren beheld  their  own  condemnation,  and  beheld  it  still  more  in 
conversing  with  those  priests.  But  notwithstanding  these  Gre- 
cians assured  them  it  was  in  vain  for  them  to  travel  into  Greece 
in  quest  of  Christians  formed  to  their  mode,  whom  they  never 
would  find  ;  yet  they  appointed  three  deputations  of  able  and 
discreet  persons,  whereof  some  traversed  all  the  east,  others  went 
northwards  into  Muscovy,  and  others  turned  their  course  towards 
Palestine  and  Egypt ;  whence  all  meeting  at  Constantinople, 
according  to  the  project  concerted  by  them,  they  returned  at  last 
to  Bohemia,  and  all  the  answer  they  brought  to  their  brethren 
was,  that  they  might  depend  upon  it  there  were  none  of  their 
profession  in  the  whole  universe. 

178. — How  they  sought  Orders  in  the  Catholic  Church. 

Their  solitude,  thus  destitute  of  all  succession  and  lawful  or- 
dination, raised  such  a  horror  in  them,  that  even  in  Luther's 
time  they  sent  some  of  their  people,  who  surreptitiously  stole 
Ordination  from  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  we  learn  this  from  one 
of  Luther's  treatises,  which  is  quoted  in  another  place.  A  poor 
church  indeed,  which,  void  of  the  principle  of  fecundity  left  by 
Jesus  Christ  to  the  apostles  and  their  legitimate  successors, 
were  forced  to  intrude  themselves  amongst  us  to  beg,  or  rather 
to  purloin,  sacred  orders. 

179. — Reproaches  made  them  by  Luther. 
Besides,  they  were  upbraided  by  Luther*  that  they  knew  noth- 
ing, no  more  than  John  Huss,  of  Justification,  the  very  principal 
point  of  the  Gospel ;  for  they  "  placed  it,"  he  proceeds,  "  in 
faith  and  works  together,  as  many  fathers  had  done  ;  and  John 
Huss  was  wedded  to  this  opinion."  He  was  in  the  right ;  for 
neither  the  Fathers,  nor  John  Huss,  nor  his  master  Wickliff*, 
neither  orthodox,  nor  heretics,  nor  Albigenses,  nor  Yaudois,  had 
ever,  before  him,  dreamed  of  his  "  imputed  justice."  Wherefore 
he  despised  the  Brethren  of  Bohemia,"]'  "as  men  serious,  rigid, 
of  an  austere  countenance,  that  martyred  themselves  with  the 
law  and  works,  and  never  enjoyed  a  cheerful  conscience."  Thus 
did  Luther  treat  the  most  regular,  to  all  appearance,  of  all  the 
schismatic  Reformers,  and,  as  was  said,  the  sole  remnant  of  the 
true  Church.     But  he  had  soon  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  them : 

*  Luth.  Coll.  p.  286.    Edit,  of  Franc,  an.  1676.  J  Ibid. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  131 

the  Brethren  carried  Lutheran  Justification  so  far,  as  to  run 
blindly  into  the  excesses  of  the  Calvinists,  and  even  into  such 
as  the  Calvinists  now-a-days  strive  to  clear  themselves  from. 
The  Lutherans  would  have  us  justified  without  our  co-operation, 
and  without  our  having  part  therein.  The  Brethren  added,*  it 
was  even  "  without  our  knowledge  and  feeling  it,  as  an  embryo 
is  quickened  in  its  mother's  womb."  After  our  regeneration, 
God  begins  to  make  himself  felt ;  and  if  Luther  would  have  us 
know  with  certainty  our  Justification,  the  brethren  still  further 
would  have  us  entirely  and  indubitably  assured  of  our  perseve- 
rance and  salvation.  They  went  so  far  with  the  imputation  of 
justice  as  to  say,  that  "  sins,  how  enormous  so  ever,  were  but 
venial,"  provided  you  committed  them  "with  repugnance,"  and 
that  it  was  of  these  sins  St.  Paul  said,  "  there  is  now  no  con- 
demnation to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus. "| 

180. —  Their  Doctnne  concerning  the  Seven  Sacraments. 
The  Brethren  had,  like  us.  Seven  Sacraments  in  the  Confes- 
sion of  1504,  which  was  presented  to  King  Ladislaus.  They 
proved  them  from  the  Scriptures,  a^nd  acknowledged  them  "  es- 
tablished for  the  accomplishment  of  the  promises  God  had  made 
to  the  faithful."  They  must  have  preserved  this  doctrine  of  the 
Seven  Sacraments  even  in  Luther's  days,  since  he  blamed  them 
for  it.  The  Confession  of  Faith  was  therefore  reformed,  and 
the  Sacraments  reduced  to  two  :  Baptism  and  the  Supper,  as 
Luther  had  ordained.  Absolution  was  acknowledged,  but  not 
in  quality  of  a  Sacrament.  In  1504,  they  spoke  of  the  confes- 
sion of  sins  as  a  thing  of  obligation.  This  obhgation  docs  no 
longer  appear  so  express  in  the  Reformed  Confession,  where  it 
is  merely  said,  "  You  ought  to  demand  of  the  priest  absolution 
of  your  sins  by  the  keys  of  the  Church,  and  obtain  the  forgive- 
ness of  them  by  this  ministry  ordained  for  that  end  by  Jesus 

Christ."J 

181. — Concerning  the  Real  Presence. 

As  for  the  Real  Presence,  the  defenders  of  the  literal  and  the 
figurative  sense  have  equally  strived  to  turn  to  their  advantage 
the  Bohemian  Confession  of  Faith. §  For  my  part,  the  thing 
being  indifferent  to  me,  I  shall  only  report  their  words,  and  here 
is  what  at  first  they  wrote  to  Roquesane,  as  they  themselves  set 
forth  in  their  Apology  :  "  We  believe  that  we  receive  the  body 
and  blood  of  our  Lord  under  the  species  of  bread  and  wixie." 
And  a  little  further  on :  "  We  are  none  of  those  who,  ill  uiider- 

*  Apo!.  part  iv.  ap.  Lyd.  t.  ii.  p.  244,  248.  Ibid,  part  ii.  172,  173.  part  iv. 
p.  282.     Ibid,  part  ii.  p.  168.  t  Rom.  viii.  1. 

X  Conf.  fiid.  apud  Lyd.  t.  iii.  p.  8.  et  seq.  citat.  in  Apol.  1531.  ap.  eund.  Lyd. 
296.  t.  ii.  Ihen.  Germ.  liv.  de  I'ador.  p.  229,  230.  Ibid.  Art.  xi.  xii.  xiii.  lb. 
Art.  V.  xiv.  Pref.  fid.  ad  Lad.  c.  de  poenitent.  laps.  ap.  Lyd.  t.  ii.  p.  15. 

§  Apol.  1532,  part  iv.  ap.  Lyd.  p.  295. 


133  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

standing  the  words  of  our  Lord,  say,  he  has  given  us  consecrated 
bread  as  a  memorial  of  his  body,  which  he  pointed  at  with  his 
finger,  saying,  '  This  is  my  body.'  Others  say,  this  bread  is  the 
body  of  our  Lord  who  is  in  heaven,  but  significantly.  All  these 
expositions  appear  to  us  far  remote  from  Jesus  Christ's  inten- 
tion, and  are  very  displeasing  to  us." 

IS2.— Sequel. 

In  their  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  year  1504,  they  speak 
thus  :  "  As  often  as  a  worthy  priest,  with  a  faithful  people,  pro- 
nounces these  words,  *  This  is  my  body,  this  is  my  blood,'  the 
bread  present  is  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  which  was  offered  for 
us  to  death,  and  the  wine  his  blood  shed  for  us  ;  and  this  body 
and  this  blood  are  present  under  the  species  of  bread  and  wine 
in  memory  of  his  death."  And  to  show  the  firmness  of  their 
faith,  they  add,  they  would  believe  as  much  of  a  stone,  had 
Jesus  Christ  said  it  was  his  body.* 

183. — They  make  the  Sacrament  depend  on  the  merit  of  the  minister. 

Hitherto  we  see  the  same  language  as  is  used  by  Catholics  ; 
we  see  the  body  and  blood  "under  the  species"  immediately 
after  the  words,  and  we  see  them  there,  not  in  figure,  but  in 
truth.  What  they  have  peculiar  to  them,  is  their  requiring  these 
words  should  be  pronounced  by  a  worthy  priest.  This  is  what 
they  add  to  the  Catholic  doctrine.  To  accomplish  the  work  of 
God  in  the  Eucharistic  bread,  Jesus  Christ's  words  did  not  suf- 
fice, but  the  minister's  merit  was  also  necessary ;  this  is  what 
they  had  learned  from  John  Wickliff  and  John  Huss. 
184. — Strong  expression  in  favor  of  the  Reality. 

They  repeat  the  same  thing  in  another  place  :|  "When,"  say 
they,  "  a  worthy  priest  prays  with  his  faithful  people,  and  says, 
*  This  is  my  body,  this  is  my  blood,'  immediately  the  bread 
present  is  the  same  body  which  was  given  up  to  death,  and  the 
wine  present  is  his  blood  which  was  shed  for  our  redemption." 
It  is  therefore  plain  they  change  nothing  in  the  Catholic  doctrine 
as  to  the  real  presence  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  seem  to  make 
choice  of  the  strongest  terms  to  confirm  it,  by  saying,  "  that  im- 
mediately after  the  words,  the  bread  is  the  true  body  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  that  was  born  of  the  Yirgin,  and  was  to  be  given 
up  to  crucifixion  ;  and  the  wine  his  true  natural  blood,  the  same 
which  was  to  be  shed  for  our  sins,  and  all  this  without  delay,  at 
the  very  instant,  with  a  presence  most  real  and  true,  prceseniis- 
sime,  as  they  speak."  And  the  figurative  sense  appeared  to 
them,  say  they,  "  so  odious  in  one  of  their  synods,  that  a  certain 
person  called  John  Czizco,  one  of  theirs  who  had  dared  to  main- 

*  Prof.  fid.  ad  Lad.  o.  de  Euch.  ap.  Lyd.  t.  ii.  p.  10.  citat.  Apol.  part  iv.  lb. 
296.    Ibid.  p.  xii. 

t  Apol.  ad  Lad.  Ibid.  42.    Prof.  fid.  ad.  Lad.  Ibid.  p.  27.    Apol.  p.  66.  etc. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  133 

tain  it,  was  expelled  out  of  their  communion."  They  add  that 
divers  writings  have  been  published  by  them  against  this  pres- 
ence in  sign,  and  those  that  defend  it  hold  them  for  their  adver- 
saries, call  them  Papists,  Antichrists,  and  Idolaters.* 

185, — The  same  thing  confirmed. 
Another  proof  of  their  sentiment  is  a  saying  of  theirs,  "  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  present  in  the  bread  and  wine  by  his  body  and 
blood  ;  otherwise,"  proceed  they,  "  neither  those  that  are  worthy 
would  receive  any  thing  but  bread  and  wine,  nor  those  that  are 
unworthy  would  be  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood,  it  being  im- 
possible they  should  be  guilty  of  what  is  not  there. "|  Whence 
it  follows  that  they  are  there,  not  only  for  the  worthy,  bij^t  also 
for  the  unworthy. 

186. — Their  manner  of  refusing  Adwafion  confirms  their  Belief  of  the  Reality^ 
even  out  of  the  Reception. 

True  it  is,  they  are  against  our  adoring  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
Eucharist  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  he  has  not  commanded 
it ;  secondly,  because  there  are  two  presences  of  Jesus  Christ, 
his  personal,  corporeal,  and  sensible  presence,  which  ought  to 
attract  our  adoration  ;  and  his  spiritual  or  sacramental  presence, 
which  ought  not  to  attract  it.  But  for  all  this,  they  nevertheless 
acknowledge  the  substance  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
Sacrament :  "  we  are  not  commanded,"  say  they,  "  to  honor  this 
substance  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  consecrated,  but  the  sub- 
stance of  Jesus  Christ  which  is  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father."  J 
Here,  then,  have  you,  in  the  Sacrament  and  in  heaven,  the  sub- 
stance of  Jesus  Christ's  body,  but  adorable  in  heaven  and  not 
so  in  the  Sacrament.  And,  lest  you  should  vv^onder  at  this,  they 
add,  "  that  Jesus  Christ  v/ould  not  even  oblige  men  to  adore 
him  on  earth  when  he  was  there  present,  because  he  waited  the 
time  of  his  glory  ;"§  which  shows  their  intention  was  not  to 
exclude  the  substantial  presence,  when  they  exclude  adoration; 
on  the  contrary,  they  supposed  it,  since,  had  they  not  believed 
it,  they  would  have  had  no  manner  of  occasion  to  excuse  them- 
selves for  not  adoring  in  the  Sacrament  what,  in  reality,  was 
not  there. 

Let  us  not  inquire  of  them  now,  whence  they  learned  this  rare 
doctrine  ;  that,  to  adore  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  not  sufficient  we  know 
him  present,  and  that  it  was  not  his  intention  we  should  adore 
him  on  earth,  but  only  in  his  glory  :  I  am  satisfied  with  relating 
what  they  say  of  the  Real  Presence,  nay,  of  the  Real  Presence 
not  after  the  manner  of  the  Melancthonists,  in  the  sole  use,  but 
immediately  after  the  Consecration. 

*  Apol.  1532,  part  iv.  p.  290.     lb.  p.  298.     Ibid.  p.  291,  299.         f  Ibid.  309. 
J  Ap.  ad  Lad.  p.  67,  et  alibi  passim.  Ibid.  p.  301,  306, 307, 309,  311,  etc. 
§  Ibid.  p.  67.     Prof.  fid.  ad  Lad.  p.  29.     Apol.  ad  eund.  p.  68. 
VOL.   II.  12 


134  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

187. — Their  uncertainty  and  affected  Ambiguities. 
With  these  expressions  apparently  so  distinct  and  so  decisive 
for  the  Real  Presence,  in  other  places  they  confound  themselves 
after  so  strange  a  manner,  that  it  seems  as  if  they  feared  nothing 
so  much  as  leaving  a  clear  and  certain  testimony  of  their  faith  : 
for  they  repeat  continually  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  in  the  Eu- 
charist in  person.*  It  is  true,  they  call  his  being  there  in  per- 
son, being  there  sensibly  and  corporally  :  expressions  which  they 
always  hnk  together,  and  oppose  to  a  spiritual  manner  of  being, 
acknowledged  by  them.  But  what  casts  them  into  a  new  con- 
fusion, is  that  they  seem  to  say,|  Jesus  Christ  is  present  in  the 
Eucharist  with  this  spiritual  Presence,  as  he  is  in  Baptism  and 
in  preaching  the  word,  as  he  was  eaten  by  the  ancient  Hebrews 
in  the  desert,  as  St.  John  the  Baptist  was  Elias.  Nor  do  I  com- 
prehend what  they  mean  by  this  odd  expression  :J  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  here  "  with  his  natural  body  after  an  existing  and  corpo- 
real manner,  exisienter  et  corporaliter,^^  but  is  here§  "  spiritually, 
powerfully,  by  way  of  benediction,  and  in  virtue  ;  spiritualiler 
potenter,  benedicte,in  virtue,''''  What  they  add  is  not  intelhgible, 
that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  here  in  the  abode  of  benediction,"  to  wit, 
according  to  their  language,  he  is  in  the  Eucharist,  "  as  he  is  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  but  not  as  he  is  in  the  heavens."  If  he 
be  there  as  he  is  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  he  is  there  in  person. 
Thus  naturally  should  one  conclude  :  but  how  shall  we  dis- 
tinguish the  heavens  from  the  right  hand  of  God?  there  we  are 
at  a  loss.  The  Brethren  spoke  distinctly  when  they  said:|] 
*'  There  is  but  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  same  in  the 
Sacrament  with  his  natural  body,  but  who  is  after  another  man- 
ner at  the  right  hand  of  his  Father  :  for  it  is  one  thing  to  say, 
there  is  Jesus  Christ,  this  is  my  body ;  and  another  to  say,  he 
is  there  after  such  a  manner."  But  no  sooner  had  they  ex- 
pressed themselves  in  plain  terms,  than  they  bewilder  themselves 
in  strange  subtilized  notions,  into  which  they  are  plunged  by  the 
confusion  and  uncertainty  of  their  minds  and  thoughts,  together 
with  a  vain  desire  of  contenting  both  parties  of  the  Reformation. 

188. — The  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  both  stnve  to  draw  them  to  their  side. — • 
They  incline  to  the  first. 

The  more  forward  they  advanced,  the  more  important  and 
mysterious  they  became  ;  and  as  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists 
strove  each  to  gain  them,  so  they  also,  on  their  side,  seemed  in- 
clined to  content  both  parties.  At  length,  tliis  is  what  they  said 
in  1558,  and  what  they  appeared  resolved  to  stand  by. IT  They 
complain,  at  first,  they  were  accused  "  of  not  believing  that  the 

*  Apol.adLadis.    lb.  p.  63, 69,  &c.  71,  73.    Ibid.  p.  301,  306, 307, 309, 311,  &c. 

t  Ibid.  p.  302,  304,  307,  308.  j  Ibid.  74.  §  Ibid.  ||  Ibid.  p.  71. 

IT  Apol.  ad  Ladis.  p.  162. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  135 

presence  of  the  true  body  and  true  blood  was  present."  What 
odd  expressions,  presence  to  be  present !  thus  they  speak  in  the 
preface :  but  teach  in  the  body  of  the  Confession,  that  it  ought 
to  be  acknowledged  that  the  bread  is  the  true  body  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  cup  his  true  blood,  without  adding  any  thing  of 
your  own  to  his  words.  But  whilst  they  forbid  adding  any  thing 
to  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  themselves  add  to  them  the 
word  true,  which  is  not  there  ;  and  whereas  Jesus  Christ  said, 
"  This  is  my  body,"  they  suppose  he  said,  "  This  bread  is  my 
body  ;"  a  very  different  thing,  as  elsewhere  you  may  have  seen. 
Now  if  it  were  allowable  in  them  to  add  what  they  judged  ne- 
cessary to  denote  a  true  presence,  it  was  no  less  allowable  in 
others  to  add  also  what  was  requisite  to  remove  all  ambiguity ; 
and  to  reject  these  expressions  after  disputes  had  arisen,  was 
opposing  hght,  and  leaving  the  questions  undecided.  It  was 
for  this  reason  Calvin*  wrote  to  them,  that  he  could  not  approve 
of  their  obscure  and  captious  brevity,  and  required  them  to  ex- 
plain how  the  bread  is  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ ;  which,  should 
they  fail  to  do,  he  maintained  their  confession  of  faith  could  not 
be  subscribed  without  peril,  and  would  occasion  great  disputes. 
But  Luther  was  satisfied  with  them,  as  they  approximated  near 
to  his  expressions,  and  were  more  inclined  towards  the  Confes- 
sion of  Augsburg.  For  they  even  continued  to  complain  of 
those,|  who  denied  that  the  bread  and  wine  were  the  true  body 
and  true  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  who  called  them  Papists, 
Idolaters,  and  Antichrists,  on  account  of  their  acknowledging 
the  true  presence.  Finally,  to  show  how  far  they  were  leaning 
to  the  side  of  the  Real  Presence,  they  enjoin  their  ministers,  in 
distributing  this  sacrament,J  and  in  reciting  the  words  of  our 
Lord,  "  to  exhort  the  people  to  believe  that  the  presence  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  present ;"  and  in  this  view  they  enjoin,  likewise, 
although  in  other  respects  little  inclined  to  adoration,  "  That  the 
sacrament  be  received  kneeling." 

189. — Luther  gives  them  his  approbation,  and  how. 

By  thus  expounding  and  thus  palliating  as  already  seen,  they 
so  contented  Luther,  that  he  prefixed  his  approbation  to  a  con- 
fession of  faith  published  by  them,§  declaring,  however,  "  That 
for  this  time  they  not  only  appeared  more  adorned,  more  free, 
and  more  polished,  but  also  more  considerable  and  better  ;" 
which  sufficiently  intimates,  he  approved  their  confession  only 
inasmuch  as  it  had  been  reformed  agreeably  to  his  maxims. 
190. — Their  Festivals,  their  Churches,  their  Fasts,  the  Celibacy  of  their  Priests. 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  uneasiness  was  given  them  in  re- 
gard of  the  stated  fasts  preserved  amongst  them,  nor  in  regard 

*Calv.Ep.adWald.p.312,etseq.        f  Ibid.  195.      J  Ibid.  396.      §P.211. 


136  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

of  the  festivals  tliey  celebrated,  forbidding  all  labor,  not  only  in 
honor  of  our  Lord,  but  also  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Saints. 
They  were  not  upbraided  that  this  was  observing  days  contrary 
to  the  precept  of  the  Apostle,  nor  that  these  holy  days  in  honor 
of  the  saints  were  so  many  acts  of  idolatry.  Neither  were  they 
accused  of  raising  churches  to  saints,  under  the  pretext  that  they 
continued,  as  we  do,  to  name  the  Church  of  the  Virgin,  in  Templo 
divm  Virginis,  of  St.  Peter,  of  St.  Paul,  churches  consecrated 
to  God  in  memory  of  them.  They  are  likewise  suffered  to  en- 
join their  priests  celibacy,  and  degrade  them  from  priesthood 
upon  marrying,  for  this  unquestionably  was  their  practice  no  less 
than  that  of  the  Taborites.*  All  this  is  harmless  in  the  Brethren  ; 
in  us  only  every  thing  is  rank  poison. 

191. — The  perpetual  Virginity  of  Mary,  Mother  of  God. 

I  would  also  have  them  asked,  where  they  find  in  Scripture 
what  they  say  of  the  blessed  Virgin  :  "  that  she  was  a  Virgin 
before  and  after  her  delivery."'!'  It  is  true,  this  was  the  belief 
of  the  holy  fathers,  and  the  contrary  rejected  by  them  for  no  less 
than  an  execrable  blasphemy :  yet  does  it,  nevertheless,  evince 
that  many  things  may  be  accounted  blasphemies,  the  contrary 
to  which  is  nowhere  in  holy  writ ;  so  that,  when  they  boast  of 
speaking  nothing  but  from  Scripture,  they  really  mean  no  more 
by  it  than  that  it  serves  their  turn  to  talk  in  this  strain  :  nor  is 
this  apparent  respect  for  the  Scripture  anything  in  them  but  a 
blind  to  the  ignorant  and  simple. 

192. — They  fiy  for  shelter  into  Poland. 

It  is  averred  that  these  Bohemian  brethren  (whose  words  were 
so  meek  and  respectful  in  regard  of  higher  powers)  the  more 
they  engaged  in  the  Lutheran  sentiments,  so  likewise  the  more 
did  they  enter  into  their  intrigues  and  wars.  Ferdinand  found 
them  mingled  in  the  Elector  of  Saxony's  rebelhon  against 
Charles  the  Fifth,  and  drove  them  from  Bohemia.  J  They  took 
sanctuary  in  Poland,  and  it  appears,  from  a  letter  of  Musculus 
to  the  Protestants  of  Poland,  in  1656,  that  it  was  but  a  few 
years  since  these  fugitives  from  Bohemia  were  received  into  that 
kingdom. 

193. — There  they  unite  icith  the  Lutherans  and  Zuinglians  in  the  Assembly  of 

Sendomir. 

Some  time  after  this,  the  union  of  the  three  Protestant  sects  of 
Poland  was  brought  about,  namely,  of  the  Lutherans,  the  Bohe- 
mians, and  the  Zuinghans.  The  act  of  union  was  passed  in 
1570,  at  the  Synod  of  Sendomir,  and  bears  this  title  :  "  The 
union  and  mutual  agreement  made  between  the  Churches  of  Po- 

+  Art.  XV.  xvii.  Act.  Syn.  Torin.  1595.  Syn.  part  ii.  p.  240,  242.  Art.  ix. 
JEn.  Silv.  Hist.  Boh.  ap.  Lyd.  p.  395,  405.  f  Orat.  Enc.  ap.  Lyd.  p.  30. 

Art  xvii.  p.  201.  |  Syntag.  Gen.  part  ii.  p.  212. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  137 

land  ;  to  wit,  between  those  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  those 
of  the  Confession  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  and  those  of  the 
Confession  of  the  Helvetic  churches,  or  Zuinghans."*  In  this 
act  the  Bohemians  style  themselves  the  Brethren  of  Bohemia, 
whom  the  ignorant  call  Vaudois.  It  appears  then  manifestly 
that  the  question  here  was  about  those  Vaudois  who,  by  mistake, 
were  named  so,  as  we  have  shown,  and  who  accordingly  dis- 
claim this  origin.  For,  with  respect  to  the  ancient  Vaudois,  we 
learn  from  an  old  author,|  that  there  were  scarce  any  of  them  in 
the  kingdom  of  Cracovia,  namely  in  that  of  Poland,  no  more  than 
in  England,  in  the  Low  Countries,  in  Denmark,  in  Sweden,  in 
Norway,  and  in  Prussia  ;  and  since  this  author's  time,  this  little 
number  is  so  dwindled  away  to  nothing,  that,  in  all  these  coun- 
tries, we  hear  no  more  mention  of  them. 

194. — Terms  af  the  Sendomir  Agreement. 
The  agreement  was  made  in  these  terms.  In  order  to  explain 
therein  the  point  concerning  the  Supper,  the  whole  article  of  the 
Saxonic  Confession,  where  this  matter  is  handled,  was  there 
transcribed.  We  have  seen  that  Melancthon  drew  up  this  Con- 
fession in  1551,  in  order  to  have  it  presented  at  Trent.  In  it  was 
said,  that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  truly  and  substantially  present  in  the 
Communion,  and  is  given  truly  to  those  who  receive  the  body 
and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."  J  To  which  they  add,  in  a  strange 
manner  of  expression,  "  That  the  substantial  presence  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  only  signified,  but  truly  rendered  present,  distributed, 
and  given  to  those  who  eat ;  the  signs  not  being  naked,  but  joined 
to  the  thing  itself,  agreeably  to  the  nature  of  the  sacraments. "§ 

195. — In  this  agreement  the  Zuingliayis,  more  than  all  the  rest,  recede  from  their 

particular  tenets. 

"  The  substantial  presence,"  it  seems,  was  had  very  much  at 
heart,  when,  in  order  to  inculcate  it  the  more  forcibly,  they  said, 
it  was  not  only  signified  but  truly  present ;  but  I  always  distrust 
these  strong  expressions  of  the  Reformation,  which  the  more  she 
diminishes  the  truth  of  the  body  and  blood  in  the  Eucharist,  the 
more  rich  is  she  always  in  words  ;  as  if  she  could  repair  by  them 
the  loss  she  sustains  in  things.  Now,  when  you  come  to  the 
point,  although  this  declaration  abounds  with  equivocal  expres- 
sions, and  leaves  subterfuges  to  each  party  whereby  to  preserve 
their  particular  doctrine  ;  it  is,  nevertheless,  the  Zuinglians  that 
take  the  greatest  step,  since  whereas  they  said  in  their  confes- 
sion that  the  body  of  our  Lord  being  in  heaven  absent  from  us, 
becomes  present  to  us  only  by  its  virtue,  the  terms  of  the  agree- 
ment import,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  substantially  present  to  us  ; 

*  Syntag.  Gen.  part  ii.  pp.  213,  219.  f  Pylic,  cont.  Wald.  c.  15.  t.  iv. 

Bib.  PP.  part.  ii.  p.  785.  J  V.  sup.  lib.  viii.  n.  18.  Syn.  Conf.  part  i. 

p.  166,  part  ii.  p.  72.  §  Conf.  p.  146. 

VOL.    II.  12* 


138  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

and  notwithstanding  all  the  rules  of  human  language,  a  presence 
in  virtue  becomes  immediately  a  presence  in  substance. 
196. — Wherein  the  Lutherans  recede,  yet  may  still  come  off. 
There  are  terms  in  the  agreement  which  it  were  difficult  for 
the  Lutherans  to  reconcile  to  their  doctrine,  did  not  men  inure 
themselves,  in  the  new  Reformation,  to  expound  every  thing  to 
their  own  sense.  For  instance,  they  seem  much  to  depart  from 
the  belief  they  are  in,  that  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  taken  by 
the  mouth  even  by  the  unworthy,  when  they  say  in  this  agree- 
ment, "  The  signs  of  the  Supper  give  by  Faith  to  the  BeHevers, 
what  they  signify."*  But,  besides  that  they  may  say  they  spoke 
in  this  manner,  by  reason  that  the  real  presence  is  not  knov.n 
but  by  faith  ;  they  may  also  add  that,  in  fact,  there  are  blessings 
in  the  Supper  which  are  given  to  the  believers  only,  as  hfe  eter- 
nal, and  the  nourishment  of  the  soul,  and  it  is  those  they  mean 
when  they  say,  "  The  signs  given  by  Faith,  what  they  signify.'* 

197. — Disposition  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren. 
I  do  not  wonder  the  Bohemians  signed  this  agreement  with- 
out difficulty.  Separated  about  forty  or  fifty  years  before  from 
the  Cathohc  church,  and  reduced  to  allow  Christianity  in  no  part 
of  the  world  except  a  corner  of  Bohemia,  which  they  inhabited, 
upon  seeing  the  Protestants  appear,  all  they  thought  of  was  to 
support  themselves  with  their  protection.  They  knew  how  to 
gain  Luther  by  their  submission  ;  by  equivocating,  they  had  all 
that  could  be  desired  from  Bucer;  the  Zuinglians  suffered  them- 
selves to  be  soothed  by  the  general  expressions  of  the  Brethren, 
who  said,  yet  without  practising  it,  that  nothing  ought  to  be  add- 
ed to  the  words  our  Saviour  used.  The  most  difficult  to  be  pleased 
was  Calvin.  We  have  seen  in  the  letter^  he  wrote  to  the  Bohe- 
mian Brethren,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Poland,  how  he  blamed 
the  ambiguity  of  their  confession  of  faith,  and  declared  there  was 
no  subscribing  it  without  opening  an  inlet  to  dissension  or  error. 

198. — Reflections  on  this  Union. 
Contrary  to  his  judgment,  all  was  subscribed,  the  Helvetic 
Confession,  the  Bohemian,  and  the  Saxonic,  the  presence  of 
substance  together  with  that  of  virtue  only;  namely,  the  two  con- 
trary doctrines  with  their  equivoca.tions  favoring  them  both.  All 
whatever  they  pleased  was  added  to  our  Lord's  words,  even  at 
the  time  they  ratified  the  Confession  of  Faith,  wherein  was  laid 
down  for  a  maxim,  that  nothing  ought  to  be  added  to  them  :  all 
passed,  and  a  peace  was  concluded  by  this  means.  You  see 
how  all  the  sects,  divided  from  Catholic  unity,  separate  and  unite 
among  themselves  ;  separating  from  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  they 
separate  from  one  another,  and  bear  the  just  punishment  of  de- 
*  Con£  p.  164.  t  Ep.  ad  Wal.  p.  317. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  139 

spising  the  band  of  their  unity.  When  they  re-unite  in  appear- 
ance, they  are  never  the  more  united  in  the  main  ;  and  their 
union,  cemented  only  by  pohtical  interests,  serves  but  to  evi- 
dence, by  a  new  proof,  that  they  have  not  so  much  as  the  idea 
of  Christian  unity,  since  they  never  do  unite  in  one  accord,  in 
one  mind,  as  St.  Paul  ordains.* 

199. — General  Reflections  on  the  history  of  all  these  Sects. 
May  it  be  allowed  us  at  present  to  make  a  few  reflections  on 
this  history  of  the  Vaudois,  the  Albigenses,  and  the  Bohemians. 
You  see  whether  the  Protestants  were  right  in  reckoning  them 
among  their  ancestors  ;  whether  this  extraction  be  to  their  credit ; 
and  in  particular  whether  they  ought  to  have  looked  on  Bohemia, 
since  the  time  of  John  Huss,  as  the  mother  of  the  reformed 
churches. t  It  is  clearer  than  the  sun,  on  one  side,  that  they 
only  bring  in  these  sects  from  the  necessity  of  finding  witnesses 
in  the  foregoing  ages  for  what  they  believe  to  be  the  truth ;  and 
on  the  other,  that  nothing  is  more  despicable  than  to  allege  such 
witnesses  as  are  all  convicted  of  falsehood  in  capital  points,  and 
who,  *!  the  main,  neither  agree  with  Protestants,  nor  with  us, 
nor  with  themselves.  This  is  the  first  reflection  Protestants 
should  make. 

200. — .Another  Reflection,  that  these  Sects  so  contrary,  all  ground  themselves  on 
the  evidence  of  Scripture. 

The  second  is  of  no  less  importance.  They  ought  to  con- 
sider that  all  these  sects,  so  different  from  one  another,  and 
withal  so  opposite  as  well  to  us  as  to  Protestants,  agree  with 
them  in  the  common  principle  of  guiding  themselves  by  the 
Scriptures  :  not,  indeed,  as  the  Church  in  all  times  has  under- 
stood and  still  understands  them — for  this  is  a  most  certain  rule  ; 
but  as  every  man  of  himself  is  capable  of  understanding  them. 
This  is  what  has  produced  all  those  errors  and  all  those  contra- 
rieties which  we  have  observed.  Under  the  pretext  of  Scrip- 
ture, every  man  has  followed  his  own  notions  ;  and  the  Scripture, 
taken  in  this  way,  so  far  from  uniting  minds,  has  divided  them, 
and  made  every  one  worship  the  delusions  of  his  own  brain, 
under  the  name  of  the  eternal  truth. 

201. — Last  and  most  important  Reflection  concerning  the  accomplishment  of  SL 

PauVs  prediction. 

But  there  still  remains  the  last  and  by  much  the  most  im- 
portant reflection  to  be  made  on  all  these  things  we  have  just 
seen  in  this  contracted  history  of  the  Albigenses  and  Vaudois. 
There  we  discover  the  reason  of  the  Holy  Ghost's  inspiring  St. 
Paul  with  this  prophecy :  "  the  spirit  speaketh  expressly,  that, 
in  the  latter  times,  some  shall  depart  from  the  faith,  giving  heed 

*  Phillip,  ii.  2.  f  Jur,  Avis  aux  Proles,  de  I'Europe  at  the  beginning 

of  his  Prejug.  legit,  p.  9.    . 


140  THE  HISTORY  OP  [bOOK 

to  seducing  spirits,  and  doctrines  of  devils ;  speaking  lies  in 
hypocrisy,  having  their  conscience  seared  with  a  hot  iron  ;  for- 
bidding to  marry,  and  commanding  to  abstain  from  meats,  which 
God  hath  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving  of  them  which 
believe  and  know  the  truth.  For  every  creature  of  God  is  good, 
and  nothing  to  be  refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving : 
for  it  is  sanctified  by  the  word  df  God  and  prayer."*  All  the 
holy  fathers  are  agreed  that  this  is  meant  of  the  impious  sect  of 
Marcionites  and  Manicheans,  who  taught  two  principles,  and 
attributed  to  the  evil  one  the  creation  of  the  universe  ;  which 
made  them  detest  the  propagation  of  mankind,  and  the  use  of 
many  kinds  of  food  which  they  believed  unclean  and  bad  in  their 
nature,  as  being  produced  by  a  creator  who  himself  was  bad 
and  impure.  St.  Paul  points,  therefore,  at  these  accursed  sects 
by  these  two  their  so  noted  tenets  ;  and  without  previously  men- 
tioning the  principle  whence  they  drew  these  two  evil  conse- 
quences, he  expresses  the  two  sensible  characters  whereby  we 
have  seen  that  these  infamous  sects  were  known  in  all  times. 

202. — The  Doctrine  of  two  Principles  pointed  at  by  St.  Paul :  why  this  Doc- 
trine is  called  the  Doctnne  of  Devils. 

But  although  St.  Paul  does  not  immediately  express  the  deep 
cause  why  these  deceivers  forbade  the  use  of  two  things  so  nat- 
ural, he  denotes  it  sufficiently  further  on,  when  he  says,  in  op- 
position to  these  errors,  that  "  every  creature  of  God  is  good,""}" 
overthrowing  by  this  principle  the  detestable  sentiment  of  those 
that  descried  impurity  in  the  works  of  God,  and  making  us  withal 
sensible  that  the  root  of  this  lay  in  not  knowing  the  creation,  and 
in  blaspheming  the  Creator.  Accordingly,  it  is  what  St.  Paul 
calls,  in  particular,  more  than  all  other  doctrines,  "  the  doctrine 
of  devils, "J  there  being  nothing  more  suitable  to  the  jealousy 
against  God  and  against  men  of  these  seducing  spirits,  than  to 
attack  the  creation,  condemn  God's  works,  blaspheme  against 
the  author  of  the  law  and  the  law  itself,  and  defile  human  nature 
with  all  manner  of  impurities  and  illusions.  For  this  is  what 
Manicheism  consisted  in,  and  what  truly  is  the  very  doctrine  of 
devils ;  especially  if  you  add  these  enchantments  and  impos- 
tures, which  all  authors  testify  were  so  frequently  made  use  of 
in  this  sect.  To  wrest  now  the  so  plain  and  so  natural  sense 
of  St.  Paul,  against  those  who,  acknowledging  both  marriage 
and  all  sort  of  meats  for  the  work  and  institution  of  God,  yet 
abstain  voluntarily  from  them  to  mortify  the  senses  and  purify 
the  mind,  is  a  too  manifest  delusion,  and  one  which  we  have  seen 
long  ago  exploded  by  the  Fathers.  It  is,  then,  very  perceptible 
whom  St.  Paul  aimed  at,  nor  is  it  possible  to  mistake  those  he 
has  so  accurately  described  by  their  proper  characters. 

*  1  Tim.  iv.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5.  f  Ibid.  4.  J  Ibid.  1. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  141 

203. — Q,uery,  why  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  all  heresies,  has  only  in  particular  foretold 
Manicheism. —  Character  of  this  heresy. — Hypocrisy. — Spirit  of  Lyini^. — 
Conscience  cauterized. 

Why  the  Holy  Ghost,  amongst  so  many  heresies,  would  only 
mark  this  so  expressly,  was  the  admiration  of  the  fathers,  and 
what  they  endeavored  to  account  for,  in  the  best  way  they  could 
in  their  age.  But  time,  the  faithful  interpreter  of  prophecies, 
has  discovered  to  us  the  deep  cause  ;  nor  shall  we  wonder  any 
more  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was  so  particularly  careful  to  fore- 
warn us  against  this  sect,  after  having  seen  it  was  this  that  in- 
fected Christianity  the  longest  and  the  most  dangerously  ;  the 
longest,  through  so  many  ages  as  we  have  seen  the  world  in- 
fected by  it ;  and  the  most  dangerously,  not  making  a  glaring 
breach  from  the  Church  like  the  rest,  but  lurking,  as  much  as 
was  possible,  within  her  precincts,  and  insinuating  herself  under 
the  appearances  of  the  same  faith,  the  same  worship,  and  even 
an  astonishing  show  of  piety.  For  this  reason  St.  Paul,*  the 
apostle,  so  expressly  points  out  its  hypocrisy.  Never  has  the 
spirit  of  lying,  remarked  by  this  apostle,  been  so  justly  charged 
on  any  sect,  since  besides  its  teaching,  like  the  rest,  a  false  doc- 
trine, it  exceeded  all  others  in  dissembling  its  behef.  We  have 
observed,  that  these  wretches  allowed  every  thing  you  pleased  ; 
they  made  nothing  of  lying  in  the  most  material  points ;  they 
stuck  not  at  perjury  to  conceal  their  tenets  ;  their  readiness  in 
betraying  their  consciences  showed  in  them  a  certain  insensi- 
bility which  St.  Paul  admirably  well  expresses  by  the  caideryf 
which  renders  the  flesh  insensible  by  mortifying  it,  as  the  learned 
TheodoretJ  hath  observed  on  this  place  ;  nor  do  I  think  ever 
prophesy  could  have  been  verified  by  more  sensible  characters 
than  this  has  been. 

204. — Sequel  of  the  reasons  why  the  Holy  Ghost  has  pointed  out  this  heresy  more 

than  the  rest. 

No  longer  are  we  to  wonder  why  the  Holy  Ghost  would  have 
the  prediction  of  this  heresy  to  be  so  particular  and  distinct.  It 
was  more  than  all  other  heresies  the  error  "  of  the  latter  times," 
as  it  is  called  by  St.  Paul,§  whether  we  understand  by  the  latter 
times,  according  to  the  Scripture  style,  all  the  times  of  the  new 
law  ;  or  understand  by  that  period  of  ages  when  Satan  was  to 
be  loosed  anew.  ||  So  long  since  as  the  second  and  third  cen- 
tury, the  Church  beheld  the  rise  of  Cerdon,  of  Marcion,  of  Manes, 
those  enemies  to  the  Creator. IT  The  seeds  of  this  doctrine  are 
every  where  to  be  met  with  ;  you  find  them  in  Tatian,  who  con- 
demned wine  and  marriage  ;  and  in  his  Concordance  of  the 
Bible  had  erased  all  the  texts  that  expressed  Jesus  Christ's  ge- 

*  Ante,  1  Tim.       f  Ante.         J  Comm.  in  hunc.  locum.       §  1  Tim.  iv. 
II  Rev.  XX.  3,  7.        H  Epip.  haer.  xlvi.  Theod.  i.  haer.  fab.  20.  Ibid.  v.  c.24. 


142  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

nealogy  from  the  blood  of  David.  A  hundred  other  infamous 
sects  had  attacked  the  God  of  the  Jews  even  before  Manes  and 
Marcion ;  and  we  learn  from  Theodoret,  that  this  last  did  but 
give  another  turn  to  the  impieties  of  Simon  the  magician.  Thus 
did  this  heresy  commence  from  the  very  beginning  of  Chris- 
tianity :  it  was  the  true  "  mystery  of  iniquity"*  which  fell  to 
work  in  St.  Paul's  time  ;  but  the  Holy  Ghost  who  foresaw  this 
pestilence  was  one  day  to  rage  in  a  more  glaring  manner,  made 
it  be  foretold  by  this  apostle  with  an  astonishing  evidence  and 
distinctness.  Marcion  and  Manes  have  set  this  mystery  of 
iniquity  in  a  more  manifest  light ;  the  abominable  sect  has  con- 
tinued its  pestilent  succession  ever  since  that  time.  This  we 
have  seen,  and  never  did  heresy  disturb  the  Church  for  a  longer 
date,  nor  spread  its  branches  to  a  greater  distance.  But  after 
that,  by  the  eminent  doctrine  of  St.  Austin,  by  St.  Leo's  and 
St.  Galasius's  great  care  and  diligence,  it  was  extinguished 
every  where  in  the  West,  and  even  in  Rome,  where  it  had  strove 
to  establish  itself;  then  was  seen  to  arrive  the  fatal  time  of 
Satan's  being  loosed  "  out  of  his  prison. ""f"  A  thousand  years 
after  that  this  strong  armed  had  been  bound  by  Jesus  Christ  at 
his  coming  into  the  world,  the  spirit  of  error  grew  up  more  than 
ever ;  the  remains  of  Manicheism,  too  well  sheltered  in  the 
East,  broke  in  upon  the  Latin  Church.  What  hinders  our  look- 
ing on  those  miserable  times  as  one  of  the  periods  of  Satan's 
being  loosed,  without  prejudice  to  the  other  more  hidden  mean- 
ings ?  J  If  Gog  and  Magog  only  be  wanting  to  fulfil  this  pro- 
phecy, we  shall  find  in  Armenia,  near  Samosata,  the  province 
named  Gogarene,  where  the  Paulicians  dwelt,  and  Magog 
amongst  the  Scythians,  from  whence  the  Bulgarians  took  their 
rise.  Thence  came  those  numberless  enemies  of  "  the  beloved 
city,"§  who  first  assaulted  Italy.  The  contagion  flew,  in  an 
instant,  to  the  extremity  of  the  north ;  a  spark  raises  a  great 
combustion  ;  the  flame  almost  spreads  over  the  whole  face  of 
the  universe.  In  all  parts  of  it  is  discovered  this  lurking  poison ; 
Arianism,  with  all  kinds  of  heresies,  together  with  Manicheism, 
shoot  up  again  under  a  hundred  unheard  of  and  uncouth  names. 
Scarcely  could  it  be  compassed  to  quench  this  fire  in  the  space 
of  three  or  four  hundred  years,  and  even  some  of  its  remains 
might  be  seen  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

205. — How  the  Vaudois  came  from  the  Mhigensian  Manicheans. 
Nor  did  the  evil  cease,  when  nothing  seemed  left  of  it  but  its 
ashes.     Satan  had  supplied  the  impious  sect  wherewith  to  re- 
new the  conflagration,  in  a  manner  more  dangerous  than  ever. 
Church  discipline  was  relaxed  over  all  the  earth  ;  the  disorders 

*  2  Thess.  ii.  7.  f  Rev.  xx.  2,3,  7.    Matt.  xii.  29.   Luke  xi.  21,  22. 

X  Rev.  XX.  7,  8.    Boch.  Phal.  lib.  iii.  13.  §  Rev.  xx.  7,  8. 


XI.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  143 

and  abuses,  carried  even  to  the  foot  of  the  altar,  made  the  good 
to  sigh,  humbled  them,  urged  them  on  to  improve  still  more  in 
their  virtuous  courses ;  but  wrought  a  far  different  effect  on 
haughty  minds.  The  Roman  Church,  the  mother  and  bond  of 
churches,  became  the  object  of  hatred  to  all  indocile  tempers  ; 
envenomed  satires  spirit  up  the  world  against  the  clergy ;  the 
Manichean  hypocrite  trumpets  them  over  the  whole  universe, 
and  gives  the  name  of  Antichrist  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  for 
then  was  that  notion  broached  in  the  sink  of  Manicheism,  and 
amidst  the  precursors  of  Antichrist  himself.  These  impious 
men  imagine  they  appear  more  holy,  when  they  say,  holiness  is 
essentially  requisite  to  the  administration  of  the  Sacraments. 
The  ignorant  Yaudois  swallow  down  this  poison.  No  longer 
will  they  receive  the  sacraments  from  odious  and  defamed  min- 
isters ;  "  the  net  is  broken"*  on  all  sides,  and  schisms  multiply. 
Satan  no  longer  stands  in  need  of  Manicheism ;  hatred  against 
the  Church  is  widely  diffused  ;  the  viperous  sect  has  left  a  brood 
like  to  itself,  and  a  too  fruitful  principle  of  schism.  No  matter, 
though  these  heretics  have  not  the  same  doctrine,  they  are 
swayed  by  hatred  and  bitterness,  and  banded  against  the  Church ; 
this  is  enough.  The  Vaudois  believe  not  like  the  Albigenses, 
but  like  the  Albigenses  they  hate  the  Church,  and  proclaim  them- 
selves the  only  saints,  the  only  ministers  of  the  sacraments. 
Wickliff  believes  not  like  the  Vaudois,  but  Wickliff  proclaims, 
like  the  Vaudois,  that  the  Pope  and  his  whole  clergy  have  for- 
feited all  authority  by  their  loose  behaviour.  John  Huss  does 
not  believe  like  Wickliff,  though  he  admires  him  ;  what  he  ad- 
mires in  him  chiefly,  and  almost  only  follows  in  him  is,  that 
crimes  annul  authority.  These  despicable  Bohemians,  as  we 
have  seen,  succeeded  to  this  spirit,  which  they  particularly  made 
appear,  when,  amounting  to  no  more  than  a  handful  of  illiterate 
men,  they  presumed  to  rebaptize  the  whole  world. 

206, — Hoxo  Luther  and  Calvin  sprung  from  the  Albigenses  and  Vaudois. 

But  a  still  greater  apostacy  was  hatching  by  means  of  these 
sects.  The  world  teeming  with  animosity,  brings  forth  Luther 
and  Calvin,  who  canton  Christendom.  The  superstructure  is 
different,  but  the  foundation  is  the  same  ;  it  is  still  hatred  against 
the  clergy  and  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  no  man  of  sincerity 
can  deny  that  this  was  the  visible  cause  of  their  surprising  pro- 
gress. A  reformation  was  necessary — who  denies  it?  but  it 
was  still  more  necessary  to  refrain  from  schism.  Were  those 
that  promoted  this  schism  by  their  preaching  any  better  than 
their  neighbors  1  They  acted  as  if  they  were  ;  this  was  enough 
to  delude  and  "  spread  like  a  canker,"  according  to  St.  Paul's 
expression.|  The  world  was  desirous  of  condemning  and  reject- 
*  Luke  y.  6.  ]2  Tira.  ii.  17. 


144  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

ing  their  leaders  ;  this  is  called  Reformation.  A  specious  name 
dazzles  the  people,  and,  to  stir  up  hatred,  calumny  is  not  spared: 
thus  is  our  doctrine  blackened  ;  men  hate  it  before  they  know  it. 

207. — The  Protestant  Churches  seek  in  vain  a  succession  of  Persons  m  the 

preceding  Sects. 

With  new  doctrines,  new  bodies  of  churches  are  erected. 
The  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  make  the  two  greatest ;  but  they 
cannot  find  in  the  whole  earth  so  much  as  one  church  that  be- 
lieves like  them,  nor  whence  they  can  derive  an  ordinary  and 
lawful  mission.  The  Vaudois  and  Albigenses,  alleged  by  some, 
are  not  to  their  purpose.  We  have  but  just  shewn  them  to  be 
mere  laymen,  as  much  at  a  loss  to  make  out  their  own  mission 
and  title,  as  those  that  seek  their  aid.  We  know  the  Toulousian 
heretics  were  never  able  to  delude  so  much  as  one  priest.  The 
preachers  of  the  Vaudois  were  trading  men  or  mechanics,  nay 
women.  The  Bohemians  had  no  better  origin,  as  is  already 
proved  ;  and  when  Protestants  name  us  all  these  sects,  they 
name  not  their  fathers,  but  their  accomplices. 

208. — Much  less  do  they  find  in  them  a  succession  of  Doctrine. 

But,  perchance,  though  they  do  not  find  in  these  sects  a  suc- 
cession of  persons,  they  will  find  in  them  a  succession  of  doc- 
trines. Much  less  :  in  certain  respects  like  to  the  Hussites  ; 
in  others,  like  the  Vaudois  ;  in  some  like  the  Albigenses  and 
the  other  sectaries  ;  in  other  articles  they  are  quite  contrary  to 
them  ;  in  this  manner,  without  lighting  upon  any  thing  that  is 
uniform,  and  laying  hold  here  and  there  of  what  seems  to  suit 
them  ;  without  succession,  without  unity,  without  true  prede- 
cessors, they  climb  to  what  height  they  can.  They  are  not  the 
first  to  reject  the  honor  due  to  Saints,  nor  the  oblations  for  the 
dead  :  they  find,  before  their  days,  bodies  of  churches  of  this 
same  belief  in  these  two  points.  The  Bohemians  embraced 
them,  but  we  have  seen  these  Bohemians  seek  in  vain  for  asso- 
ciates through  the  whole  earth.  However,  here  is  a  church  at 
least  before  Luther  ;  this  is  something  to  such  as  have  nothing. 
But,  after  all,  this  church  before  Luther  is  but  fifty  years  before 
him  ;  they  must  strive  to  advance  higher ;  they  will  find  the 
Vaudois,  and,  a  little  more  distant,  the  Manicheans  of  Toulouse. 
They  will  find,  in  the  fourth  age,  the  Manicheans  of  Africa 
opposed  to  the  worship  of  Saints.  One  only,  Vigilantius,  fol- 
lows them  in  this  particular  point,  but  higher  than  this  no  certain 
author  can  be  found ;  yet  thereon  depends  the  stress  of  the 
question.  They  may  go  a  little  further  as  to  oblations  for  the 
dead.  The  priest  Aerius  will  appear,  but  alone,  and  without 
followers  ;  an  Arian  besides.  This  is  all  can  be  found  that  is 
positive  ;  whatever  is  built  besides  this,  will  be  built  manifestly 


XII.]  THE   VARIATIONS,    ETC.  145 

in  the  air.  But  let  us  see  what  they  will  discover  as  to  the 
Real  Presence,  and  remember  the  question  is  concerning  posi- 
tive and  certain  facts.  Carlostadius  is  not  the  first  who  main- 
tained that  the  bread  was  not  made  the  body  ;  Berengarius  had 
said  as  much  four  hundred  years  before  him,  in  the  eleventh 
century.  Yet  neither  was  Berengarius  the  first ;  these  Mani- 
cheans  of  Orleans  had  just  said  the  same,  and  the  world  was 
still  full  of  the  rumor  of  their  evil  doctrine,  when  this  scantling 
of  it  was  picked  up  by  Berengarius.  Beyond  this,  I  find  many 
pretensions  and  actions  lodged  against  us  concerning  this  sub- 
ject, but  no  averred  and  positive  facts. 

209. —  What  is  the  succession  of  Heretics. 
Now  the  Socinians  have  a  more  manifest  succession  ;  catch- 
ing up  a  V.  ord  here  and  another  there,  they  will  name  to  you 
declared  enemies  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  in  all  ages,  and 
at  the  head  of  them  will  find  Cerinthus,  next  to  the  Apostles. 
Notwithstanding  their  discovering  something  concordant  among 
so  many  in  other  respects,  discording  witnesses,  they  will  be 
never  the  better  founded,  since,  when  all  is  said.  Succession 
and  Umformity  are  wanting  to  them.  To  take  tlie  thing  thus, 
namely,  -'should  each  of  them,  in  patching  up  their  several 
churches,  collect  here  and  there  without  bond  of  union,  all  that 
could  be  found  conformable  to  their  sentiments  ;  there  is  no 
difficulty,  as  might  have  been  observed,  to  trace  the  extraction 
of  every  sect  seen  at  this  day,  or  ever  to  be  seen,  even  up  to 
Simon  the  Magician,  and  to  that "  mystery  of  iniquity,"  (2  Thess. 
ii.  7)  which  began  in  the  time  of  St.  Paul. 


BOOK  XII. 

[From  the  year  1571  to  1579,  and  from  1603  till  the  year  1615.] 

A.  brief  Summary. — The  Reformed  Churches  disturbed  about  the  word  Sub- 
stance even  in  France. — It  is  maintained  as  grounded  on  the  word  of  God 
in  one  Synod,  and  in  another  brought  to  nothing  in  favor  of  the  Swiss, 
who  were  angry  with  the  decision. — One  Faith  for  France,  and  another 
for  Switzerland. — Assembly  of  Frankfort,  and  a  project  of  a  new  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  for  the  whole  second  party  of  Protestants. — What  was  to  be 
suppressed  there  in  favor  of  the  Lutherans. — Detestation  of  the  Real  Pre- 
sence established  and  suppressed  at  the  same  time. — Piscator's  affair,  and 
the  doctrinal  decision  of  four  National  Synods  reduced  to  nothing. — Prin- 
ciples of  the  Calvinists,  and  demonstrations  drawn  from  them  in  our  behalf. 
— Du  Moulin's  propositions  received  at  the  Synod  of  Ay. — Nothing  solid 
or  serious  in  the  Reformation. 

1. — Many  pretended  Reformed  Churches  of  France  are  for  changing  the  article 
of  the  Stipper,  in  their  Confession  of  Faith. — 1581. 

The  union  of  Sendomir  had  not  its  effect,  except  in  Poland. 

In  Switzerland,  the  Zuinglians  continued  steadfast  to  reject 

VOL.  II.  13 


146  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

equivocations.  The  French  began  already  to  join  in  their  sen- 
timents. Many  maintained  openly,  that  it  was  requisite  to  dis- 
card the  word  Substance,  and  change  the  thirty-sixth  article  of 
the  Confession  of  Faith  presented  to  Charles  IX,  wherein  the 
Supper  was  explained.  It  was  not  particular  men  that  made 
this  dangerous  proposal,  but  whole  churches,  even  the  chief 
churches,  those  of  the  Isle  of  France  and  Brie,  that  of  Paris, 
that  of  Meaux,  where  the  exercise  of  Calvinism  commenced, 
and  others  neighboring  to  them.  These  churches  were  for 
changing  so  considerable  an  article  of  their  Confession  of  Faith, 
which  they  had  published  but  ten  years  before  as  containing 
nothing  but  the  pure  word  of  God  ;  this  must  have  too  much 
discredited  the  new  party.  The  Synod  of  Rochelle,  wherein 
Beza  presided,  resolved  to  condemn  these  reformers  of  the 
Reformation  in  1571. 

2. — The  JsTational  Synod  condemns  them. — This  Synod''s  decision  full  of  per- 
plexities. 

The  case  required  a  clear  and  distinct  sentence.  The  con- 
test being  on  foot,  and  the  parties  present,  there  needed  no 
more  than  to  decide  in  few  words ;  but  brevity  is  the  fruit  of 
clear  conceptions  only.  Behold,  therefore,  word  for  word  what 
was  concluded,  and  I  ask  only  to  be  allowed  to  divide  the  de- 
cree into  three  parts,  and  to  recite  them  severally. 

They  begin  by  rejecting  what  is  evil,  and  their  condemnations 
fall  justly  enough.  To  fix  upon  any  thing  will  be  the  grand 
difficulty  ;  but  let  us  read.  "  Concerning  the  thirty-sixth  article 
of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  deputies  of  the  Isle  of  France 
represented,  that  it  would  be  requisite  to  explain  this  article,  in- 
somuch as  it  speaks  of  the  participation  of  the  substance  of 
Jesus  Christ.  After  a  conference  of  some  length,  the  Synod, 
approving  the  thirty-sixth  article,  rejects  the  opinion  of  those 
who  refuse  to  receive  the  word  Substance,  by  which  word  is  not 
understood  any  confusion,  commixion,  or  conjunction  whatever 
after  a  carnal  manner,  or  otherwise  natural,  but  a  true  conjunc- 
tion, very  intimate,  and  in  a  spiritual  way,  whereby  Jesus  Christ 
himself  is  so  made  ours,  and  we  his,  that  there  is  no  conjunc- 
tion of  body,  whether  natural  or  artificial,  so  close  ;  the  which 
nevertheless  does  not  tend  to  this  end,  that  of  his  substance  and 
person  joined  to  our  substances  and  persons,  there  should  be 
compounded  some  third  person  and  substance,  but  only  to  this, 
that  his  virtue  and  all  in  him  requisite  to  our  salvation,  be  by 
this  means  the  more  strictly  given  and  communicated  to  us,  dis- 
senting from  those  who  say,  we  join  ourselves  to  all  his  merits 
and  gifts,  and  with  his  holy  Spirit  only,  without  he  himself  being 
ours."  Here  is  abundance  of  words,  and  nothing  said.  It  is 
no  commixion,  either  carnal  or  natural :  who  knows  not  that "? 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  147 

It  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  vulgar  mixtures  ;  its  end  is 

divine ;  the  manner  of  it  is  entirely  celestial,  and  in  this  sense, 

spiritual ;  who  questions  it  ?     But  has  any  man  ever  dreamed, 

that  of  the  substance  of  Jesus  Christ  united  to  ours,  a  third 

person  was  made  a  third  substance  1     So  much  time  ought  not 

to  be  lost  in  rejecting  such  chimeras  as  never  entered  into  any 

man's  head. 

3. —  Vam  efforts  of  the  Synod  to  find  the  substance  of  the  Body  and  Blood  in  the 
Doctrine  of  the  pretended  reformed  Churches. 

It  is  something  to  reject  those  who  pretend  we  partake  in 
nothing  but  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  gifts,  and  in  his 
spirit,  without  his  giving  himself  to  us  :  it  was  only  requisite 
they  should  add,  that  he  gives  himself  to  us  in  the  proper  and 
natural  substance  of  his  flesh  and  blood,  for  this  was  the  point 
in  hand,  and  the  thing  to  be  explained.  Catholics  do  this  very 
clearly,  for  they  say,  Jesus  Christ  in  pronouncing  "  This  is  my 
body,  the  same  that  was  given  for  you  :  This  is  my  blood,  the 
same  that  was  shed  for  you,"*  designs,  not  the  figure  of  it,  but  the 
substance,  which,  in  saying  "  Take,"  he  renders  wholly  ours, 
there  being  nothing  more  ours  than  that  which  is  given  us  in  this 
manner.  This  speaks  ;  this  is  intelligible.  Instead  of  deliv- 
ering themselves  thus  clearly  and  distinctly,  we  shall  see  our 
ministers  lose  themselves  in  rambling  from  the  point,  heap  texts 
on  texts  without  concluding  anything.  Let  us  return  to  where 
we  left  off;  here  is  what  presents  itself:  "  Not  consenting," 
proceed  they,  "  with  those  who  say,  we  join  ourselves  to  his 
merits  and  his  gifts  and  his  spirit  only,  yea,  rather  marvelling 
with  the  Apostle  (Ephes.  v.)  at  this  secret,  supernatural  and  in- 
comprehensible to  our  reason,  we  believe  that  we  are  made  par- 
takers of  the  body  given  for  us  and  the  blood  shed  for  us  ;  that 
we  be  flesh  of  his  flesh  and  bone  of  his  bones,  and  receive  him 
together  with  all  his  gifts  with  him  by  faith  engendered  in  us  by 
the  incomprehensible  influence  and  power  of  this  holy  spirit ; 
thus  understanding  that  which  is  said,  '  whoso  eateth  the  flesh 
and  drinketh  the  blood  hath  life  everlasting.'  Item,  Christ  is 
the  vine  and  we  the  branches,  and  that  he  maketh  us  abide  in 
him  to  the  end  we  may  bring  forth  fruit,  and  that  we  be  mem- 
bers of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his  bones."  They  are 
certainly  afraid  of  being  understood,  or  rather  do  not  understand 
themselves  ;  thus  clogging  their  meaning  with  so  many  useless 
words,  so  many  intricate  phrases,  such  a  confused  jumble  of 
crowded  texts.  For  after  all,  what  they  have  to  show  is,  how 
much  those  are  in  the  wrong  who,  refusing  to  acknowledge,  in 
the  Eucharist,  any  other  communication  than  that  of  the  merits 
and  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  discard  from  this  mystery  "  The 
*  Matt  xxvi.  26,  28.    Luke  xxiL  19,  20.     1  Cor.  xi.  24. 


148  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

proper  substance  of  his  body  and  blood."  Now  this  is  what  in 
no  way  appears  in  any  of  these  numerous  texts.  These  texts 
conclude,  only  that  we  receive  something  flowing  from  Jesus 
Christ  in  order  to  enliven  us,  as  members  receive  from  the  Head 
the  spirit  which  animates  them  ;  but  do  not  at  all  conclude  for 
our  receiving  the  proper  substance  of  his  body  and  blood.  None 
of  these  texts,  except  one  only,  namely,  that  of  St.  John  vi., 
relate  at  all  to  the  Eucharist ;  neither  does  that  of  St.  John  vi., 
if  we  believe  the  Calvinists,  relate  to  it.  And  if  this  text,  well 
understood,  shows  indeed  in  the  Eucharist  the  proper  substance 
of  Jesus  Christ's  flesh  and  blood,  yet  it  does  not  show  it  in  the 
manner  it  is  here  employed  by  the  ministers,  since  the  upshot 
of  their  discourse  concludes  at  length  in  this,  that  "  We  re- 
ceive Jesus  Christ  together  with  all  his  gifts  with  him  by  faith 
engendered  in  us."  Now  "  Jesus  Christ  by  faith  engendered 
in  us,"  is  nothing  less  than  Jesus  Christ  united  to  us  in  the 
proper  and  true  substance  of  his  flesh  and  blood ;  the  first  of 
these  being  no  more  than  a  moral  union  wrought  by  pious  af- 
fections of  the  mind ;  and  the  second,  being  physical,  is  real 
and  immediate  of  body  to  body,  and  of  substance  to  substance  : 
thus  does  this  great  synod  expound  nothing  less  than  what  it 
proposes  to  expound. 

4. — Error  of  the  Synod  tohich  seeks  the  Mystery  of  the  Eucharist  without  pro- 
ducing the  Institution. 

I  observe  in  this  decree,  that  the  Calvinists  having  undertaken 

to  explain  the  mystery  of  the  Eucharist,  and  in  this  mystery  the 

proper  substance  of  Jesus  Christ's  body  and  blood,  which  it  is 

grounded  on,  allege  to  us  far  different  things  from  the  words  of 

the  institution,  "  This  is  my  body.  This  is  my  blood  ;"  for  they 

are  very  sensible,  should  they  say,  these  words  import  the  proper 

substance  of  the  body  and  blood,  that  this  would  be  making  it 

clearly  appear,  that  our  Lord's  design  was  to  express  the  body 

and  blood,  not  in  figure,  nor  even  in  virtue,  but  in  effect,  in  truth, 

and  in  substance.     Thus  this  substance  must  have  been  not 

only  by  faith,  in  the  minds  and  thoughts  of  the  faithful,  but  in 

effect,  and  in  truth,  under  the  sacramental  species,  where  Jesus 

Christ  denotes  it,  and  thereby,  even  in  our  bodies,  into  which 

we  are  ordered  to  receive  it,  to  the  end  that  we  might,  in  every 

way,  enjoy  our  Saviour  and  participate  of  our  victim. 

5, — The  Stjnod^s  reason  for  establishing  the  Substance. — They  conclude  the 
other  Opinion  to  be  contrary  to  God's  word. 

Now,  whereas  the  decree  had  not  cited  any  one  text  that  con- 
cluded for  the  proper  substance,  the  thing  in  question,  but  rather 
had  excluded  it  by  showing  Jesus  Christ  united  by  faith  only  ; 
they  come  back  at  length  to  the  substance  by  the  following 
words :  "  And  in  fact,  as  we  derive  our  death  from  the  first  Adam, 


XII.]  THE   VARIATIONS,   ETC.  149 

inasmuch  as  we  partake  of  his  substance  ;  so  it  is  requisite  we 
should  partake  truly  of  the  second  Adam,  Christ  Jesus,  that  we 
may  derive  our  life  from  him.  Wherefore  all  pastors,  and  in 
general,  all  the  faithful  shall  be  exhorted  to  give  no  way,  in 
any  kind,  to  opinions  contrary  to  the  above  doctrine,  wliich  is 
grounded  expressly  on  the  word  of  God.^'* 

6. — The  Synod  says  more  than  it  designed. 
The  holy  Fathers  made  use  of  this  comparison  of  Adam  to 
show  that  Jesus  Christ  ought  to  be  in  us  otherwise  than  by  faith 
and  affection,  or  morally  ;  for  it  is  not  by  affection  and  thought 
only,  that  Adam  and  parents  are  in  their  children  ;  it  is  by  the 
communication  of  the  same  blood,  and  the  same  substance  ;  and 
therefore  the  union  we  have  with  our  parents,  and  by  their  means 
with  Adam,  from  whom  we  are  all  descended,  is  not  only  moral, 
but  physical  and  substantial.  The  Fathers  have  thence  con- 
cluded, that  the  new  Adam  ought  to  be  in  us  after  a  manner 
equally  physical  and  substantial,  to  the  end  that  we  might  derive 
immortality  from  him,  as  from  our  first  parent  we  derive  mor- 
tality. Accordingly,  it  is  what  they  have  found,  and  much  more 
abundantly,  in  the  Eucharist  than  in  ordinary  generation,  for 
that  it  is  not  a  portion  of  the  blood  and  substance,  but  the  whole 
substance  and  the  whole  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which 
is  therein  communicated  to  us.  To  say  now  with  the  ministers, 
that  this  communication  is  wrought  barely  by  faith,  is  not  only 
to  weaken  the  comparison,  but  also  to  annihilate  the  mystery, 
and  deprive  it  of  its  substance  ;  and  whereas  it  is  more  abun- 
dantly in  Jesus  Christ  than  in  Adam,  it  is  making  it  to  be  much 
less  in  him,  or  rather  not  at  all. 

7. — ^  point  of  Doctrine  was  in  Q,uestion  among  them. 
Thus  do  our  doctors  confound  themselves,  and  the  more 
pains  they  take  to  speak  their  minds,  the  more  do  they  obscure 
the  subject.  Nevertheless,  through  all  these  mists,  you  discern 
plainly,  that  among  the  defenders  of  the  figurative  sense  there 
was  in  reality  an  opinion  which  admitted  nothing  in  the  Eucha- 
rist but  the  gifts  and  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  at  most,  nothing 
but  his  spirit,  not  the  proper  substance  of  his  flesh  and  blood ; 
but  that  this  opinion  was  expressly  contrary  to  the  word  of  God, 
and  not  to  have  any  admittance  amongst  the  faithful. 

8. — The  Swiss  believe  themselves  condemned  by  this  decision. 

It  is  no  hard  matter  to  guess  who  were  the  defenders  of  this 
opinion ;  it  was  the  Swiss,  the  disciples  of  Zuinglius  ;  and  such 
of  the  French  as  approving  their  sentiment  would  fain  reform 
this  article.  And  this  was  the  reason  that  the  Swiss  were  pres- 
ently heard  to  complain,  thinking  they  beheld  their  own  condem- 
nation in  the  Synod  of  Rochelle,  and  the  fraternity  broken ; 

VOL.  II.  13* 


150  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

since,  notwithstanding  the  soft  turn  given  to  the  decree,  their 
doctrine  was  condemned  in  the  main  as  contrary  to  the  word  of 
God,  with  express  exhortation  to  allow  it  no  shelter  among  the 
pastors  or  the  faithful. 

9. — The  Synod  answers  them  by  Beza,  that  this  Doctrine  only  regards  France. 

— The  Lutherans  as  well  as  Catholics  detested  as  Defenders  of  a  monstrous 

Opinion. 

Under  this  persuasion  they  wrote  to  Beza,  and  the  answer 
returned  them  was  surprising.  Beza  was  ordered  to  acquaint 
them,  that  the  decree  of  the  synod  of  Rochelle  did  not  regard 
them,  but  only  certain  Frenchmen  ;  so  that  there  was  a  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  for  France,  and  another  for  Switzerland,  as  if  faith 
varied  according  to  the  climate,  and  it  were  not  equally  true, 
that  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  Swiss  nor  Frenchman,  as 
it  is  true,  according  to  St.  Paul,  that  there  is  neither  Scythian 
nor  Greek.  To  this  Beza  added,  in  order  to  calm  the  Swiss, 
that  the  churches  of  France  detested  the  substantial  and  carnal 
presence,  together  with  the  monsters  of  transubstantiation  and 
consubstantiation,*  Here,  then,  by  and  by,  we  have  the  Lu- 
therans as  badly  treated  as  the  Catholics,  and  their  doctrine  ac- 
counted no  less  monstrous ;  but  this  only  in  writing  to  the  Swiss ; 
we  have  seen  how  far  they  are  able  to  soften  matters  when  they 
write  to  the  Lutherans,  and  how  tender  they  are  then  of  con- 
substantiation. 

10. — The  Swiss,  not  satisfied  ivith  Beza's  answer,  still  Iwld  themselves  for 

condemned. 

The  Swiss  would  not  be  gulled  with  these  subtleties  of  the 
synod  of  Rochelle,  but  were  very  sensible  that  they  themselves 
were  attacked  under  the  name  of  these  Frenchmen.  Bullinger, 
minister  of  Zurich,  who  was  ordered  to  answer  Beza,  made  no 
difficulty  of  telUng  him  they  were  in  fact  the  people  condemned  rf 
"  You  condemn,"  answered  he,  "  those  who  reject  the  word 
'  proper  substance  ;'  and  who  is  ignorant  that  we  are  of  this 
number?"  What  Beza  had  added,  against  the  carnal  and  sub- 
stantial presence,  did  not  remove  the  difficulty  ;  Bullinger  knew 
full  well,  that  the  Catholics  no  less  than  the  Lutherans  com- 
plained that  a  carnal  presence  was  laid  to  their  charge,  which 
they  did  not  dream  of;  and  besides,  he  could  not  comprehend 
the  meaning  of  receiving  in  substance  what  was  not  substan- 
tially present.  Thus  unable  to  conceive  the  refinements  of 
Beza,  or  a  substance  united  without  being  present,  he  answered 
him,  "  that  they  ought  to  speak  plainly  in  matters  of  faith,  lest 
they  should  reduce  the  simple  to  such  straits  as  no  longer  to 
know  what  to  believe  ;"  whence  he  concluded  that  it  was  ne- 

*  Colos.  iii.  11.    Hosp.  1571.  f.  344  f  Hosp.  Ibid. 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  151 

cessary  to  mitigate  the  decree,  and  this  was  the  only  means  he 
proposed  for  a  reconcilement. 

11. — They  were  at  last  farced  to  change  the  Decree,  and  reduce  the  Substance  to 

nothing  at  all. — 1572. 

They  were  forced  to  stoop  to  these  terms,  and  the  year  fol- 
lowing, in  the  synod  of  Nismes,  substance  was  brought  to  so 
small  a  matter,  that  they  might  as  well  have  quite  suppressed  it. 
Whereas  at  the  synod  of  Rochelle,  the  debate  was  about  putting 
a  stop  to  an  opinion  contrary  to  that  which  was  grounded  ex- 
pressly on  the  word  of  God,  they  endeavor  now  to  insinuate  that 
the  question  was  only  about  a  word.  They  raze  out  of  the  de- 
cree of  Rochelle  these  words  which  contained  its  main  force 
and  purpose  :  viz.  "  The  synod  rejects  the  opinion  of  those  who 
refuse  to  receive  the  word  substance."  They  declare  they  will 
do  no  prejudice  to  strangers  ;  and  such  is  their  complaisance 
for  them,  that  these  great  words,  "  the  proper  substance  of  Jesus 
Christ's  body  and  blood,"  so  much  affected  by  Calvin,  so  stren- 
uously maintained  by  his  disciples,  so  carefully  retained  at  the 
synod  of  Rochelle,  and  at  last  brought  to  nothing  by  our  re- 
formed, no  longer  appear  in  their  confession  of  faith,  but  as  a 
monument  of  the  impression  of  the  reality  and  substance,  which 
the  words  of  Jesus  Christ  had  naturally  made  in  the  minds  of 
their  forefathers,  and  even  of  Calvin  himself. 

12. — Reflection  on  this  weakening  of  the  first  Doctrine. 

And  yet  if  they  will  but  reflect  on  these  relaxations  of  their 
first  doctrine,  they  may  observe  therein  in  what  manner  the  spirit 
of  seduction  has  deluded  them.  Their  fathers  would  not  easily 
have  deprived  themselves  of  the  substance  of  Jesus  Christ's 
body  and  blood.  Accustomed  in  the  Church  to  this  sweet 
presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of  their  Saviour,  the  pledge  of 
an  immense  love,  they  would  not  willingly  have  been  brought 
down  to  shadows  and  figures,  nor  to  a  simple  virtue  flowing  ironi 
his  body  and  blood.  Calvin  had  promised  them  something  more. 
They  had  suffered  themselves  to  be  attracted  by  a  notion  of  re- 
ality and  substance  continually  inculcated  in  his  books,  in  his 
sermons,  in  his  commentaries,  in  his  confessions  of  faith,  in  his 
catechisms  :  a  false  notion,  I  confess,  they  being  there  in  words 
only,  and  not  in  fact ;  but  yet  they  were  charmed  with  the  fine 
idea,  and  believing  they  lost  nothing  of  what  was  possessed  by 
them  in  the  Church,  they  did  not  fear  to  leave  it.  Now  that 
Zuinghus  has  gained  the  ascendant  by  the  consent  of  their 
synods,  and  Calvin's  big  words  stand  evidently  void  of  force  and 
destitute  of  all  sense,  why  do  not  they  return  from  their  error, 
and  seek,  in  the  Church,  that  real  possession  with  which  they 
had  been  flattered  ? 


152  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

13. — The  different  Confessions  of  Faith  a  mark  of  the  disunion  of  the  Party. 
The  Swiss  Zuinglians  were  appeased  by  the  explanation  of 
the  synod  of  Nismes  :  but  the  ground  of  division  still  subsisted. 
So  many  confessions  of  faith  were  a  too  convincing  token  of  it 
to  be  dissembled.  Meanwhile  the  French,  the  Swiss,  the  Eng- 
lish, and  the  Poles,  had  their  separate  ones,  which  all  of  them 
kept  to,  without  borrowing  from  their  neighbors,  and  their  union 
seemed  nearer  allied  to  policy  than  true  concord. 

14. — The  .Assembly  of  Frankfort,  where  endeavors  are  xised  to  bring  the  defenders 
of  the  figurative  sense  to  agree  in  one  common  Confession. — 1572. 

They  had  often  sought  remedies  for  this  inconvenience,  but 
in  vain.  In  1677,  an  assembly  was  held  at  Frankfort,  where 
the  ambassadors  of  Queen  Elizabeth  assembled  with  the  depu- 
ties of  France,  of  Poland,  of  Hungary,  and  of  the  low  countries.* 
The  Count  Palatine,  John  Casimir,  who,  the  year  before,  had 
brought  into  France  such  great  succor  to  our  reformed,  procured 
this  assembly.  The  whole  party  that  defended  the  figurative 
sense,  whereof  this  prince  was  one,  was  there  assembled,  except 
the  Swiss  and  Bohemians.  But  these  last  had  sent  their  decla- 
ration, submitting  themselves  thereby  to  what  should  be  resolved: 
and  as  for  the  Swiss,  the  Palatine  caused  it  to  be  declared  by 
his  ambassador  that  he  held  himself  assured  of  them.  I  The 
intent  of  this  convention,  as  appears  by  the  palatine-deputy's 
harangue  at  his  opening  of  it,  was  to  draw  up,  by  the  unanimous 
consent  of  all  the  other  deputies,  one  common  confession  of  faith 
for  these  churches  ;  and  the  reason  that  induced  the  Palatine  to* 
make  this  proposal  was,  because  the  Lutherans  of  Germany, 
after  making  the  famous  Book  of  Concord  so  often  mentioned, 
were  to  hold  an  assembly  at  Magdeburg,  there  to  pronounce 
with  one  accord  the  approbation  of  this  book,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  condemnation  of  all  those  who  should  refuse  to  sub- 
scribe it ;  so  as,  being  declared  Heretics,  they  might  be  ex- 
cluded from  toleration  granted  by  the  empire  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion. By  this  means,  all  the  defenders  of  the  figurative  sense 
were  to  be  banished,  and  the  monster  of  ubiquity,  maintained  in 
this  book  to  be  established.  It  was  the  interest  of  these  churches, 
which  were  to  be  condemned,  to  appear  at  that  time  numerous, 
powerful,  and  united.  They  were  cried  down  as  having  each 
one  their  particular  confession  of  faith,  and  the  Lutherans,  united 
under  the  common  name  of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  easily 
resolved  on  the  proscription  of  a  party,  which  its  disunion  made 
contemptible. 

15. — A  design  of  comprehending  the  Lutherans  in  this  common  Confession  of 

Faith. 

This  their  great  grievance  was  colored  over  nevertheless,  in 
*  Act.  auth.  Blon.  p.  59.  f  Ibid.  p.  60. 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  153 

the  best  way  possible,  with  specious  words  ;  and  the  Palatine- 
deputy  declared  that  all  these  Confessions  of  Faith,  conformable 
in  doctrine,  differed  in  method  only,  and  the  way  of  speaking. 
But  he  well  knew  the  contrary,  nor  were  the  differences  but  too 
real  for  these  churches.  Be  that  as  it  will,  it  was  their  interest, 
in  order  to  put  a  stop  to  4he  proceedings  of  the  Lutherans,  to 
show  them  their  union  by  a  confession  of  faith  as  well  received 
among  them  all,  as  was  that  of  Augsburg  among  the  Lutherans. 
But  they  had  yet  a  more  general  design  :  for  in  making  this  new 
confession  of  faith  common  to  the  defenders  of  the  figurative 
sense,  their  intent  was  to  pitch  on  such  expressions  as  the  Lu- 
therans, defenders  of  the  literal  sense,  might  agree  to,  and  so 
by  this  means  make  one  body  of  the  whole  party  called  Reformed. 
The  deputies  had  no  better  means  than  this  of  preventing  the 
condemnation  threatened  them  from  the  Lutheran  party.  Where- 
fore, the  decree  they  made  concerning  this  common  Confession 
of  Faith  had  this  turn  given  it.*  "  That  it  ought  to  be  made, 
and  made  clear,  full,  and  solid,  with  a  clear  and  brief  refutation 
of  all  the  heresies  of  these  times  ;  yet,  with  such  a  temper  of 
style,  as  rather  to  attract  than  alienate  those  that  adhere  purely 
to  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  as  much  as  truth  could  allow.'* 
16. — (Qualities  of  this  new  Confession  of  Faith. — Deputies  named  to  draio  it  up. 
To  make  this  Confession  of  Faith  clear,  to  make  it  full,  to 
make  it  solid,  with  a  clear  and  brief  confutation  of  all  the  heresies 
of  those  times,  was  a  grand  undertaking ;  fine  words,  but  the 
thing  exceedingly  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  amongst  people 
of  such  different  persuasions  :  above  all,  not  to  exasperate  any 
further  the  Lutherans,  those  zealous  defenders  of  the  literal  sense, 
it  was  necessary  to  pass  lightly  over  the  Real  Presence,  and  the 
other  articles  so  often  mentioned.  Divines  were  named,  who 
had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  grievances  of  the  Church,  to 
wit,  of  the  divisions  in  the  Reformation,  and  of  her  Confessions 
of  Faith  which  kept  them  asunder.  Rodulph  Gultier,  and  The- 
odore Beza,  ministers,  one  of  Zurich  and  the  other  of  Geneva, 
were  to  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  the  work  which  was  after- 
wards to  be  despatched  to  all  the  churches  in  order  to  be  read, 
examined,  corrected,  and  augmented  as  judged  proper. 

17. — Letter  written  to  the  Lutherans  by  the  Assembly  of  Frankfort. 
To  prepare  a  work  of  such  great  nicety,  and  hinder  the  con- 
demnation which  the  Lutherans  were  hatching,  it  was  concluded 
to  write,  in  the  name  of  the  whole  assembly,  a  letter  capable  of 
molHfying  them.  Wherefore  they  were  acquainted,!  that  this 
assembly  was  called  together  from  sundry  parts  of  the  Christian 
world,  to  oppose  the  Pope's  attempts,  after  informations  received 

*  Act.  autli.  Blon.  p.  62.  -f  Ibid.  p.  63. 


154  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

that  he  was  uniting  the  most  potent  princes  of  Christendom 
against  them,  namely,  the  Emperor,  the  King  of  France,  and 
the  King  of  Spain ;  but  what  had  most  afflicted  them  was,  that 
certain  princes  of  Germany,  who  say  they  invoke  the  same  God 
with  us,  as  if  the  CathoHcs  had  another,  and  detest  with  us  the 
tyrarny  of  the  Roman  Antichrist,  wei%  preparing  to  condemn 
the  doctrine  of  their  Churches  ;  and  so,  amidst  the  misfortunes 
that  distressed  them,  they  saw  themselves  attacked  by  those,  in 
whose  virtue  and  wisdom  they  had  reposed  their  chief  trust. 
18. — The  Jlssemhly  minces  the  difficulty  of  the  Eiichanst. 
Then  they  represented  to  those  of  the  Confession  of  Augs- 
burg, that  the  Pope,  whilst  he  ruined  the  rest  of  the  Churches, 
would  not  spare  them.  For  how,  proceed  they,  should  he  hate 
those  less  who  first  gave  him  the  mortal  stab,  namely,  the  Lu- 
therans, whom,  by  this  means,  they  place  at  the  head  of  the  whole 
party  1  They  propose  a  free  council  in  order  to  unite  amongst 
themselves,  and  oppose  the  common  enemy.  Lastly,  after  com- 
plaining they  were  going  to  be  condemned  without  a  hearing, 
they  say,  the  controversy  that  divides  them  most  from  those  of 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  viz.,  that  of  the  Supper  and  Real 
Presence,  has  not  so  much  difficulty  as  is  imagined,  and  it  is  an 
injury  done  them  to  accuse  them  of  rejecting  the  Confession 
of  Augsburg.  But  they  add,  it  stood  in  need  of  explanation  in 
some  places,  and  even  that  Luther  and  Melancthon  had  made 
some  corrections  in  it ;  by  which  they  evidently  mean  those  dif- 
ferent editions,  wherein  were  made  the  above-seen  changes  in 
the  lifetime  of  Luther  and  Melancthon. 

19. — The  consent  of  the  Synod  of  Sainte-Foy  to  the  new  Confession  of 

Faith.— 1578. 

The  year  following,  the  Calvinists  of  France  held  their  na- 
tional Synod  at  Sainte-Foy,  where  they  gave  power  to  change 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  which  they  had  so  solemnly  presented 
to  our  Kings,  and  which  they  boasted  they  would  maintain  to 
the  last  drop  of  their  blood.  The  decree  of  this  Synod  is  worth 
our  notice  :  it  imports,  "  that  after  seeing  the  instructions  of  the 
assembly  held  at  Frankfort  by  the  means  of  Duke  John  Casi- 
mir,  khey  enter  into  the  design  of  uniting  in  one  holy  band  of 
pure  doctrine  all  the  reformed  Churches  of  Christendom,  whereof 
certain  Protestant  Divines  were  for  condemning  the  soundest 
and  the  greatest  part :  and  approve  the  project  of  making  and 
drawing  up  a  formulary  of  a  Confession  of  Faith  common  to 
all  the  Churches,  as  also  the  invitation  expressly  made  to  the 
Churches  of  this  kingdom,  to  send  to  the  place  appointed  men 
well  approved  and  authorized  with  ample  procuration,  in  order 
to  treat,  agree,  and  decide  on  all  the  points  of  doctrine  and  other 
things  relating  to  the  union,  repose,  and  preservation  of  the 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  155 

Church,  and  God's  pure  service."  For  the  execution  of  this 
project,  they  name  four  deputies  to  draw  up  this  common  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  but  with  much  more  ample  powers  than  had 
been  demanded  for  them  in  the  assembly  of  Frankfort.*  For, 
whereas  this  assembly,  unable  to  believe  the  Churches  could 
agree  in  one  Confession  of  Faith,  without  seeing  it,  had  ordered, 
that  after  its  being  seen  by  certain  ministers  and  polished  by 
others,  it  should  be  sent  to  all  the  churches  for  their  examination 
and  correction:  this  Synod,  condescending  beyond  all  that  could 
be  imagined,  not  only  expressly  charges  these  four  deputies  to 
be  present  at  the  place  and  time  appointed,  with  ample  procura- 
tions as  well  from  the  ministers,  as  in  particular  from  the  Vis- 
count of  Turenne  ;  but  also  adds  thereto,  "  that  in  case  even 
there  were  no  means  of  examining  this  Confession  of  Faith 
throughout  all  the  provinces,  it  was  left  to  their  prudence  and 
sound  judgment  to  agree  and  conclude  all  the  points  that  shall 
come  under  deliberation,  whether  in  regard  of  doctrine,  or  any 
other  thing  concerning  the  welfare,  union,  and  repose  of  all  the 
Churches." 

20. — Faith  trusted  in  the  hands  of  four  Ministers,  and  of  the  Viscount  of 

Turenne. 

Here  have  you  then  manifestly,  by  the  authority  of  a  whole 
national  Synod,  the  faith  of  our  pretended  churches  of  France 
left  to  the  disposal  of  four  ministers  and  of  the  Viscount  of 
Turenne,  with  power  to  determine  therein  as  they  pleased,  and 
those  who  will  not  allow,  that  we  may  refer  to  the  judgment  of 
the  whole  Church  the  least  points  of  faith,  refer  the  whole  of 
theirs  to  that  of  their  deputies. 
21. — Why  M.  de  Turenne  was  put  in  this  deputation  concerning  Doctrine. 

One  may  wonder  perchance  to  see  M.  de  Turenne  named 
amongst  these  doctors  :  but  you  must  understand  that  this 
"  welfare,  union,  and  repose  of  all  the  churches,"  for  the  sake 
of  which  this  deputation  was  made,  meant  much  more  thp.n  ap- 
peared at  first  sight.  Forasmuch  as  the  Duke  John  Cacimir, 
and  Heniy  de  la  Tour,  Viscount  of  Turenne,  joint  deputies  with 
these  ministers,  had  thoughts  of  settling  this  repose  by  other 
means  than  by  arguments  and  Confessions  of  Faith  ;  v.hich, 
however,  necessarily  made  part  of  the  negotiation,  experience 
having  shown  that  these  new  reformed  Churches  could  not  be 
united  in  a  league  as  they  ought,  without  first  agreeing  in  point 
of  doctrine.  All  France  was  flaming  with  civil  wars  ;  and  the 
Viscount  de  Turenne,  then  but  young,  yet  full  of  wit  and  valor, 
whom  the  disaster  of  the  times  had  drawn  into  the  party  but  two 
or  three  years  before,  had  immediately  raised  himself  in  it  to  so 

*  Hist  de  Pas.  de  Franc.  Act.  auth.  Blon.  p.  63.  Syn.  de  Sainte-Foy.  Ibid, 
pp.  5,  6. 


156  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

great  an  authority  (not  so  much  by  his  illustrious  blood  which 
allied  him  to  the  greatest  families  of  the  kingdom,  as  his  great 
capacity  and  courage)  that  he  was  already  lord-lieutenant  to  the 
King  of  Navarre,  afterwards  Henry  IV.  A  man  of  such  genius 
entered  easily  into  the  design  of  reuniting  all  the  Protestants  : 
but  God  did  not  suffer  him  to  accomplish  it.  The  Lutherans 
were  found  intractable,  and  the  Confessions  of  Faith,  notwith- 
standing the  resolution  unanimously  taken  of  changing  them  all, 
subsisted  as  containing  the  pure  word  of  God,  which  it  is  neither 
lawful  to  add  to,  nor  take  from. 

22. — Letter,  wherein  the  Calvinists  oion  Luther  mid  Melancthonfor  their  Fathers. 
We  see  that,  in  the  year  following,  namely,  1579,  a  union 
was  still  hoped  for,  since  the  Calvinists  of  the  Low  Countries 
wrote  conjointly  to  the  Lutherans,  authors  of  the  Book  of  Con- 
cord, to  Kemnidus,  Chythraeus,  James  Andrew,  and  the  rest  of 
the  violent  defenders  of  Ubiquity,  whom  they  failed  not  to  call, 
not  only  their  brethren,  but  their  own  flesh,  (so  intimate  was 
their  union,  notwithstanding  their  great  divisions,)  inviting  them 
"  to  take  moderate  counsels,  to  enter  into  methods  of  union,  in 
order  whereto  the  Synod  of  France  (that  of  Sainte-Foy)  had 
named  deputies,  and  this,"  say  they,  "  after  the  example  of  our 
holy  fathers,  Luther,  Zuinglius,  Capito,  Bucer,  Melancthon, 
Buliinger,  Calvin,"  whose  unanimity  was  such  as  you  have  seen. 
These,  then,  are  the  common  fathers  of  the  Sacramentarians 
and  Lutherans  ;  these  are  the  men  in  whose  harmony  and  mod- 
erate counsels  the  Calvinists  glory  ! 

23. — The  project  of  a  Common  Confession  continued  to  our  days,  and  altcays  to 

no  purpose. 

All  these  endeavors  towards  a  union  proved  abortive,  and  the 
defenders  of  the  figurative  sense  were  so  far  from  being  able  to 
agree  with  the  Lutherans,  defenders  of  the  literal  sense,  in  one 
common  Confession  of  Faith,  that  they  could  not  even  agree 
among  themselves.*  The  proposal  was  frequently  renewed, 
and  even  near  to  our  days  in  1614,  at  the  Synod  of  Tonins, 
which,  in  1615,  was  backed  by  the  expedients  proposed  by  the 
famous  Peter  du  Moulin.  But  though  for  this  he  received  the 
thanks  of  the  Synod  of  the  Isle  of  France,  held  the  same  year 
at  the  borough  of  Ay,  in  Champagne  ;  and  notwithstanding  the 
known  credit  he  had,  not  only  in  France,  among  his  own 
brethren,  but  also  in  England  and  over  the  whole  party,  all 
proved  to  no  purpose.  The  churches,  which  defend  the  fig- 
urative sense,  confessed  the  mighty  evil  of  their  disunion,  but 
withal  confessed  it  was  beyond  remedy  ;  and  this  common  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  so  earnestly  desired  and  endeavored  at,  is  be- 
come a  Platonic  idea. 

♦  Act.  Aulh.  Blon.  p.  72. 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  157 

24. — Vahi  shifts  of  the  Ministers. 
This  history  would  require  that  I  should  relate  the  answers 
returned  by  the  ministers,  with  regard  to  this  decree  of  Sainte- 
Foy,  after  it  became  public,  and  was  urged  against  them  by  the 
Catholics.  But  all  of  them,  by  the  above  account  of  the  fact, 
fall  of  themselves.  Some  said,  a  mutual  toleration  was  the  only 
thing  in  question  ;  but  it  is  plain  enough,  a  common  Confession 
of  Faith  v/as  not  necessary  for  that  end,  since  the  effect  of  this 
toleration  is,  not  to  make  one  common  faith,  but  to  bear  mutu- 
ally with  one  another's  faith.  Others,  in  excuse  for  the  great 
power  of  deciding  on  doctrine  lodged  in  the  hands  of  four  depu- 
ties, answered,  this  was  because  it  was  known  "  near  the  mat- 
ter"* what  they  could  agree  in ;  this  "  near  the  matter"  is  ad- 
mirable. Doubtless  men  are  not  over  nice  in  questions  of  faith 
when  satisfied  with  knowing  "  near  the  matter"  what  they  are 
to  say ;  and  little  also  do  they  know  what  to  stick  to,  when,  for 
want  of  such  knowledge,  they  give  their  deputies  so  unlimited 
a  power  of  concluding  whatsoever  they  shall  think  fitting.  The 
Minister  Claude^  answered,  that  they  knew  precisely  v/hatthey 
were  to  say  ;  and  should  the  deputies  have  gone  beyond  it,  they 
v/ould  have  justly  been  disowned  as  men  that  had  gone  beyond 
their  commission.  But  this  answer,  allowing  it  so,  does  not 
satisfy  the  chief  difiiculty,  consisting  in  this,  that  to  please  the 
Lutherans,  they  must  have  given  up  to  them  all  that  tended  to 
exclude,  as  well  the  Real  Presence  as  the  other  points  contested 
with  them  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  must  evidently  have  changed,  in 
such  important  articles,  a  Confession  of  Faith  expressly  affirmed 
by  them  to  be  contained  in  the  word  of  God. 

25. — Difference  betioeen  what  ivas  designed  to  be  done  infcvor  of  the  Lutherans 
at  Frankfoj't  and  Sainte-Foy,  and  lohat  loas  done  at  Charenlon. 

Care  ought  to  be  taken  not  to  confound  what  was  to  be  done 
then  with  what  was  done  since,  when  the  Lutherans  were  re- 
ceived into  communion  at  the  Synod  of  Charenton,  in  1631. 
This  last  action  shews  only,  that  the  Calvinists  can  bear  with 
the  Lutheran  doctrine,  as  a  doctrine  not  at  all  prejudicial  to  the 
fundamentals  of  faith.  But  it  is  certainly  quite  a  difi*erent  thing 
to  tolerate,  in  the  Lutheran's  Confession  of  Faith,  what  you 
believe  erroneous  in  it,  and  to  suppress  in  your  own  what  you 
believe  to  be  a  truth  revealed  of  God,  and  expressly  declared 
by  his  word.  This  is  what  they  had  resolved  to  do  in  the  as- 
sembly of  Frankfort  and  at  the  Synod  of  Sainte-Foy  ;  this  is 
what  they  would  have  executed,  had  it  pleased  the  Lutherans  ; 
insomuch  that  it  was  only  the  fault  of  the  defenders  of  the  Real 
Presence  that  all  which  clashed  with  it  was  not  erased  out  of 
the  Sacramentarian  Confessions  of  Faith.  But  the  reason  of 
+  Anon.  ii.  Rep.  p.  365.     j  Mr.  Claude,  dan  la  Nog.  Conf.  rep.  a  I'Expos.  p.  149. 

VOL.  II.  14 


158  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

this  was,  once  change,  and  no  end  of  changing ;  a  Confession 
of  Faith  which  changes  the  doctrine  of  ages  past,  shews  thereby 
that  itself  may  be  changed  hkewise  ;  nor  must  we  wonder  the 
Synod  of  Sainte-Foy  thought  they  had  power  to  correct  in  1578 
what  the  Synod  of  Paris  had  estabUshed  in  1559. 
26. — Spiiit  of  instability  in  Calvinism. 
All  these  means  of  agreement  now  mentioned,  so  far  from 
diminishing  the  disunion  of  our  Reformed,  did  but  increase  it. 
Here  were  men  ignorant  as  yet  what  to  stick  to,  whose  first 
step,  at  setting  out,  was  by  a  breach  upon  the  whole  Christian 
world.  Here  was  a  religion  built  on  the  sand,  which  had  no 
stability  even  in  her  Confessions  of  Faith,  although  made  with 
such  nice  care,  and  published  with  such  pomp.  Even  the  pro- 
fessors of  it  could  not  persuade  themselves  that  they  had  not  a 
right  to  innovate  in  so  changeable  a  religion,  and  it  was  this 
produced  the  novelties  of  John  Fischer,  known  under  the  name 
of  Piscator,  and  those  of  Arminius. 

27. — Piscator^s  dispute. 

Piscator's  affair  will  teach  us  many  important  matters,  and 
I  am  the  more  desirous  to  relate  it  at  full  length,  the  less  it  is 
known  by  the  generality  of  our  reformed. 

Piscator  taught  divinity  in  the  academy  of  Herborne,  a  town 
in  the  earldom  of  Nassau,  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Examining  the  doctrine  of  Imputed  Justice,  he  says 
that  the  justice  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  imputed  to  us,  is  not 
that  which  he  practised  during  the  course  of  his  life,  but  that 
which  he  underwent  in  bearing  voluntarily  the  punishment  of 
our  sin  on  the  cross ;  as  much  as  to  say,  the  death  of  our  Lord 
being  a  sacrifice  of  an  infinite  value,  whereby  he  paid  and  satis- 
fied for  us,  it  was  also  by  this  act  alone  that  the  Son  of  God  was 
properly  Saviour,  without  any  necessity  of  joining  to  it  any  other 
acts,  this  being  of  itself  sufficient ;  so  that,  if  we  are  to  be  justi- 
fied by  imputation,  it  is  by  that  of  this  act,  ip  virtue  whereof 
precisely  we  are  acquitted  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  whereby 
*'  the  hand- writing  of  the  sentence  passed  against  us  was  de- 
faced," as  St.  Paul  speaks,  "  by  the  blood  which  pacifieth  both 
heaven  and  earth."* 

28. — This  doctrine  detested  by  the  J^ational  Synod  of  Gap. — First  decision. 
This  doctrine  was  detested  by  our  Calvinists  in  the  Synod  of 
Gap,  anno  1603,"(*  as  contrary  to  the  eighteenth,  twentieth,  and 
twenty-second  articles  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  it  was 
resolved  by  them,  *'  that  a  letter  should  be  addressed  to  Mr. 
Piscator,  and  likewise  to  the  university  in  which  he  taught." 
It  is  certain  these  three  articles  decided  nothing  as  to  what 
*  Col.  ii.  14.         f  Syn.  de  Gap.  ch.  de  la  Conf,  de  Foy. 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  159 

concerned  Piscator,  and  for  this  reason  we  find  no  more  men- 
tion made  of  the  twentieth  and  twenty-second  articles.  And 
as  to  the  eighteenth,  in  which  it  was  pretended  the  decision 
might  be  found,  it  said  no  more  than  that  "  we  are  justified  by 
the  obedience  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  allowed  us,"  without 
specifying  what  obedience  ;  so  that  Piscator  found  it  no  hard 
matter  to  defend  himself  in  regard  to  the  Confession  of  Faith. 
But  since  they  will  have  it  that  he  innovated  in  respect  to  the 
Confession  of  the  pretended  reformed  of  this  kingdom,  which  had 
been  subscribed  by  those  of  the  Low  Countries,  I  agree  to  it. 

29. —  Second  Condemnation  of  Piscatofs  Doctrine  at  the  Synod  ofRochelle. 

Piscator  was  written  to  by  order  of  the  synod,  as  resolved, 
and  his  answer,  modest,  but  firm  in  his  sentiment,  was  read  at 
the  Synod  ofRochelle,  in  1607.  After  reading  it,  this  decree 
was  made  :  ','  As  to  the  letter  of  Dr.  John  Piscator,  Professor 
in  the  Academy  of  Herborne,  in  answer  to  that  of  the  Synod 
of  Gap,  rendering  account  of  his  doctrine  which  teaches  justi- 
fication to  be  by  the  sole  obedience  of  Christ  in  his  death  and 
passion,  imputed  as  justice  to  the  faithful,  and  not  by  the  obedi- 
ence of  his  life ;  the  assembly  7iot  approving  the  division  of  causes 
so  conjoint,  hath  declared,  that  the  whole  obedience  of  Christ 
in  his  life  and  death  is  imputed  to  us  for  the  entire  remission  of 
our  sins,  as  being  no  other  than  one  and  the  same  obedience." 

30. — Important  observation,  that  the  Doctrine  of  the  Calvinists  against  Piscator 
resolves  the  difficulties  they  urge  against  us  in  regard  of  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Eucharist. 

In  consideration  of  these  last  words,  I  would  willingly  ask  our 
Reformed,  why,  in  order  to  merit  for  us  the  forgiveness  of  our 
sins,  they  require,  not  only  the  obedience  of  the  death,  but  also 
that  of  the  whole  hfe  of  our  Redeemer?  Is  it  that  the  merit  of 
Jesus  Christ  dying  is  not  infinite,  and  not  more  than  sufficient, 
for  our  salvation  1  This  they  will  not  say  ;  they  must,  therefore, 
say,  that  what  is  required  as  necessary  after  an  infinite  merit, 
does  neither  destroy  its  infiniteness  nor  sufiiciency  :  but  at  the 
same  time  it  follows,  that  to  consider  Jesus  Christ,  as  continu- 
ing his  intercession  by  his  presence  not  in  heaven  only,  but  also 
on  our  Altars  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Eucharist,  is  destroying 
nothing  of  the  infiniteness  of  the  propitiation  made  on  the  cross  ; 
it  is  only,  as  speaks  the  Synod  of  Rochelle,  not  dividing  things 
conjoined,  and  accounting  all  Jesus  Christ  did  in  his  life,  all  he 
did  in  his  death,  and  all  he  now  does  whether  in  heaven,  where 
he  presents  himself  for  us  to  the  Father,  or  on  our  Altars,  where 
he  is  present  in  another  way,  as  the  continuation  of  one  and  the 
same  intercession,  and  of  one  and  the  same  obedience  which  he 
began  in  his  life,  consummated  in  his  death,  and  never  ceases 


160  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

to  renew  both  in  heaven  and  in  the  mysteries,  thereby  to  apply 
them  to  us  effectually  and  perpetually. 

31. — Third  decision. — Fortmdary  and  Subscription  ordained  against  Piscator 
in  the  Synod  ofPnvas. — 1612. 

The  doctrine  of  Piscator  had  its  partizans.  Nothing  was 
found  against  him  in  the  eighteenth,  twentieth,  and  twenty- 
second  articles  of  the  Confession  of  Faith.  And,  indeed,  they 
abandoned  the  two  last  to  fix  on  the  eighteenth,  which  was  no 
more  to  the  purpose,  as  we  have  seen,  than  the  others  ;  and  to 
drive  the  matter  home  against  Piscator  and  his  doctrine,  they 
went  so  far,  in  the  national  Synod  of  Privas,  as  to  oblige  all 
the  pastors  to  subscribe  expressly  against  Piscator  in  these 
terms  :  "  I  underwritten  N.  in  regard  to  the  contents  in  the 
eighteenth  article  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Reformed 
Churches,  regarding  our  justification,  do  declare  and  protest, 
that  I  understand  it  according  to  the  sense  received  in  our  church, 
approved  by  the  tiational  synods,  and  conformable  to  God^s  word ; 
which  is,  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  subject  to  the  moral 
and  ceremonial  law,  not  only  for  our  good,  but  in  our  stead  ; 
and  that  all  the  obedience  he  rendered  to  the  law  is  imputed 
to  us,  and  that  our  justification  does  consist,  not  only  in  the 
remission  of  sins,  but  in  the  imputation  of  active  justice  ;  and 
subjecting  myself  to  the  ivord  of  God,  I  believe  '  that  the  Son  of 
man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,'  and  that 
he  did  minister  to  the  purpose  he  came  for  :  promising  never  to 
depart  from  the  doctrine  received  in  our  churches,  and  to  subject 
myself  to  the  ordinances  of  the  national  synods  on  this  head.^^ 

32. — The  Scripture  ill-quoted,  and  its  lohole  Doctrine  ill-understood. 

What  it  avails  imputed  justice,  that  "  Jesus  Christ  came  to 
minister,  and  not  to  be  ministered  unto  ;"  and  to  what  purpose 
this  text  is  brought  abruptly  and  witliout  connexion  into  the  midst 
of  this  decree,  let  him  guess  that  can.  Neither  do  I  see  what 
use  the  imputation  of  the  ceremonial  law  is  to  us,  which  never 
was  made  for  us  ;  nor  for  what  reason  "  Jesus  Christ  must  have 
been  subject  to  it,  not  only  for  our  good,  but  in  our  stead."  I 
well  comprehend  how  Jesus  Christ,having  dispersed  the  shadows 
and  figures  of  the  law,  has  left  us  free  from  the  servitude  of  the 
ceremonial  laws,  which  were  but  shadows  and  figures  ;  but  that 
it  was  necessary  for  such  intent  that  he  himself  should  have  been 
subject  to  them  in  our  stead,  the  consequence  would  be  perni- 
cious, since  it  might  be  equally  concluded  he  had  also  set  us 
free  from  the  moral  law,  by  his  fulfilling  it.  All  this  shows  the 
little  exactness  of  our  Reformed,  who  were  more  intent  on  show- 
ing erudition  in  a  profusion  of  big  empty  words,  than  on  speaking 
with  accuracy  in  their  decrees. 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  161 

33. — Fourth  decision  against  Piscator  in  the  Synod  of  Tonins. — 1614. 

I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  what  could  be  the  reason  that  Pisca- 
tor's  affair  was  taken  so  very  niuch  to  heart  by  our  French  Re- 
formed, or  why  the  Synod  of  Privas  descended  to  the  utmost 
precautions,  by  enjoining  the  above  subscription.  This,  how- 
ever, ought  to  have  been  decisive  :  a  formulary  of  faith,  ordered 
to  be  subscribed  by  all  the  pastors,  should  have  explained  the 
matter  fully  and  distinctly.  Nevertheless,  after  this  subscription 
and  all  the  precedent  decrees,  it  was  still  necessary  to  make  a 
new  declaration  at  the  Synod  of  Tonins  in  1614.  Four  great 
decrees  one  after  another,  and  in  such  different  terms,  concern- 
ing a  particular  article,  and  on  so  hmited  a  subject,  is  very  ex- 
traordinary ;  but  in  the  new  Reformation  something  is  always 
found  to  be  added  or  curtailed,  and  never  is  their  faith  explained 
so  sincerely,^nor  with  so  full  a  sufficiency,  as  to  make  them 
adhere  precisely  to. the  first  decisions. 

34. — The  impiety  of  Imputed  Justice  as  it  is  proposed  by  these  Synods. 

To  conclude  this  affair,  I  shall  make  a  short  reflection  on  the 
nature  of  the  doctrine,  and  some  reflections  on  the  procedure. 

As  to  the  doctrine,  I  very  well  understand  how  the  death  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  payment  he  made  to  the  divine  justice  of 
the  punishment  we  owed  it,  is  imputed  to  us,  as  you  impute  to 
a  debtor  the  payment  made  by  the  security  for  his  acquittance. 
But  that  the  perfect  justice  fulfilled  by  our  Lord  in  his  life  and 
death,  and  the  absolute  obedience  he  rendered  to  the  law,  should 
be  imputed  to  us,  or  as  they  speak,  allowed,  in  the  same  sense, 
that  the  payment  of  the  surety  is  imputed  to  the  debtor ;  is  the 
same  as  to  say,  that  he  discharges  us  by  his  justice  from  the 
obligation  of  being  good  and  virtuous,  as  by  his  punishment  he 
discharges  us  from  the  obligation  of  undergoing  that  which  our 
sins  had  merited. 

35. — Plainness  and  simplicity  of  the  Catholic  Doctrine  opposed  to  the  obscurities 

of  the  contrary. 

I  understand,  then,  and  very  clearly,  in  another  kind  of  man- 
ner, what  it  avails  us  to  have  a  Saviour  whose  sanctity  is  infinite. 
For  thereby  I  behold  him  alone  worthy  to  obtain  for  us  all  the 
graces  requisite  to  make  us  just.  But  that  we  should  formally 
be  made  just,  because  Jesus  Christ  was  just ;  and  that  his  jus- 
tice should  be  allowed  us,  as  if  he  had  fulfilled  the  law  to  our 
discharge,  neither  does  the  Scripture  say  it,  nor  can  any  man 
of  good  sense  comprehend  it. 

By  this  means  accounting  as  nothing  our  interior  justice,  and 
that  which  we  practise  through  grace,  they  make  us  all  in  the 
main  equally  just,  by  reason  that  the  justice  of  Jesus  Christ,  sup- 
posed by  them  the  only  one  that  renders  us  just,  is  infinite. 

VOL.    II.  14  * 


162  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

They  likewise  wrest  from  the  elect  of  God  that  crown  of 
justice,  which  the  just  Judge  reserves  for  each  one  in  particular, 
since  they  suppose  all  have  the  same  justice  which  is  infinite  ; 
or  if  at  length  they  confess,  this  infinite  justice  is  allowed  us  in 
different  degrees,  accordingly  as  we  approach  to  it  more  or  less 
by  that  particular  justice  we  are  vested  with  by  grace,  it  is  by  ex- 
traordinary expressions,  saying  the  same  thing  with  the  CathoUcs. 
36. — Reflections  on  the  irrocedure. — Scriplicre  quoted  therein  only  for  form-sake. 

This  is,  in  a  few  words,  what  I  had  to  say  on  the  doctrine 
itself.  I  shall  be  still  more  brief  as  to  the  procedure  :  it  has 
nothing  but  what  is  weak  in  it,  nothing  grave  nor  serious.  The 
act  of  most  importance  is  the  formulary  of  subscription  enjoined 
at  the  Synod  of  Privas,  but,  from  the  very  beginning,  they  do 
not  so  much  as  think  of  convicting  Piscatorfrom  the  Scriptures. 
The  point  to  be  proved  was,  "  That  the  obedience  of  Jesus 
Christ,  whereby  he  fulfilled  the  whole  law  in  his  life  and  death, 
is  allowed  us  in  order  to  make  us  just,"  which  is  called  in  the 
formulary  of  Privas,  as  before  in  that  of  Gap,  the  imputation  of 
the  active  justice. 

Now,  all  that  could  be  found  in  four  synods  to  prove  this 
doctrine  and  the  imputation  of  the  active  justice,  by  the  Scrip- 
ture, is,  that  "  the  Son  of  Man  did  not  come  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,"  a  text  so  little  adapted  to  imputed  justice, 
that  there  is  no  discovering  even  to  what  purpose  it  was  cited. 

But  so  it  is  with  these  new  reformers,  provided  they  name 
but  the  word  of  God  with  emphasis,  and  then  fling  out  a  text 
or  two,  however  wide  from  the  purpose,  they  think  to  have 
answered  the  profession  they  make  of  believing  nought  but 
Scripture  in  express  terms.  The  people  are  dazzled  with  these 
big  promises,  and  are  not  even  sensible  what  a  sway  the  authority 
of  their  ministers  has  over  them,  though  when  all  is  done  it  is 
by  that  their  assent  is  determined. 

37. — Hoio  the  Confession  of  Faith  is  quoted. 

As  from  the  word  of  God  nothing  was  proved  against  Pis- 
cator,  so  likewise  their  Confession  of  Faith  was  opposed  in  vain 
against  him. 

For  we  have  seen  them  at  Privas  immediately  forego  the 
twentieth  and  twenty-second  articles,  which  were  produced  at 
Gap.  The  eighteenth  is  only  insisted  on,  and  as  it  spoke  noth- 
ing but  what  was  general  and  indeterminate,  they  bethought 
themselves  of  thus  remedying  it  in  the  Formulary :  "  I  declare 
and  protest  that  I  understand  the  eighteenth  article  of  our  Con- 
fession of  Faith  accordhig  to  the  sense  received  in  our  churches, 
approved  in  our  synods,  and  conformable  to  the  word  of  God." 

The  word  of  God  would  have  sufficed  alone ;  but  as  that 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  163 

was  in  dispute,  to  finish  it  there  was  a  necessity  of  coming  back 
to  the  authority  of  things  judged,  and  abiding  by  the  article  of 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  understanding  it,  not  according  to  its 
precise  terms,  but  according  to  the  sense  received  in  churches, 
and  approved  in  the  National  Synods,  which  finally  regulates 
the  dispute  by  tradition,  and  shows  us  that  the  most  assured 
means  of  understanding  what  is  written,  is  to  see  in  what  man- 
ner it  always  had  been  understood. 

This  is  what  passed,  as  to  the  affair  of  Piscator,  in  four  na- 
tional synods.  The  last  of  them  was  that  of  Tonins,  held  in 
1614,  where,  after  the  subscription  commanded  by  the  Synod  of 
Privas,  all  seemed  determined  in  the  most  serious  manner  im- 
aginable ;  yet  after  all  there  was  nothing  in  it,  for  the  year  fol- 
lowing, to  go  no  further,  that  is,  in  1615,  Du  Moulin,  the  most 
renowned  of  all  their  ministers,  openly  made  a  jest  of  it,  with  the 
approbation  of  a  whole  synod.   The  history  of  the  thing  is  this  : — 

38. — They  laugh  at  all  these  Decrees. — J^othing  serious  in  the  Reformation. — 
Du  Moulhi's  remonstrance  approved  in  the  Synod  of  Ay. — 1615. 

The  party  of  the  Reformation  opposed  to  Lutheranism  had 
always  been  disturbed  because  they  could  never  contrive  among 
themselves  a  common  Confession,  to  unite  all  their  members,  as 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg  united  all  the  Lutherans.  So  many 
different  Confessions  of  Faith  showed  a  principal  of  division 
which  weakened  the  party.  They  came  back,  therefore,  once 
more  to  the  project  of  a  reunion.  Du  Moulin  proposed  the 
means  in  a  writing  sent  to  the  Synod  of  the  Isle  of  France. 
The  whole  drift  of  it  was  to  dissemble  the  dogmas,  which  they 
could  not  agree  in ;  and  Du  Moulin  writes  in  express  terms, 
that  among  the  things  it  was  requisite  to  dissemble  in  this  new 
Confession  of  Faith,  they  ought  to  place  Piscator's  question 
regarding  Justification  :*  a  doctrine  so  much  detested  by  four 
national  synods,  becomes  indifferent  all  of  a  sudden  in  the  opinion 
of  this  minister,  and  the  synod  of  the  Isle  of  France,  with  the 
same  hand  with  which  it  had  but  just  subscribed  Piscator's  con- 
demnation, nay,  the  pen,  as  I  may  say,  still  wet  with  the  ink  it 
had  made  this  subscription  with,  thanks  M.  du  Moulin  by  ex- 
press letters  for  this  proposal  :|  such  instability  is  there  in  the 
nev/  Reformation,  and  so  easily  does  she  sacrifice  the  greatest 
matters  to  this  common  Confession  which  she  never  could  attain. 

39. — Du  Moulhi's  words. — Dissimulation,  character  of  Heresy,  owned  in  the 

Reformation. 

The  words  of  Du  Moulin  are  too  remarkable  not  to  be  related. 

"  There,"  says  he, J  viz.,  in  this  assembly  to  be  held  for  this 

new  Confession  of  Faith,  "  I  am  for  no  disputes  about  religion, 

for  minds  once  healed  will  never  be  brought  to  yield,  and  each 

+  Act.  Aut.  Blond.  Piece,  vi.  p.  72.  f  Ibid.  |  Ibid.  n.  4. 


164  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

one  in  his  return  cries  out  victory  ;  but  I  would  have  laid  on 
the  table  the  Confession  of  the  churches  of  France,  of  England, 
of  Scotland,  of  the  Low  Countries,  of  the  Palatinate,  of  the 
Swiss,  &c.  That  out  of  these  Confessions  we  might  strive  to 
form  one  common  one,  wherein  we  should  dissemble  many  things, 
without  the  knowledge  of  which  one  might  be  saved,  as  is  Pis- 
cator^s  question  regarding  Justification,  and  many  subtle  opinions 
proposed  by  Arminius  about  Free-will,  Predestination  and  Per- 
severance of  the  Saints." 

He  adds,  "  as  Satan  had  corrupted  the  Church  of  Rome  by 
her  having  too  much,  namely,  by  avarice  and  ambition,  so  he 
strives  to  corrupt  the  churches  of  the  new  reformation  by  know- 
ing too  much,  to  wit,  by  curiosity,"  which,  in  reahty,  is  the 
temptation  all  heretics  sink  under,  and  the  snare  they  are  taken 
in  ;  and  concludes  that,  in  the  way  of  agreement,  "  they  shall 
have  gone  the  greatest  part  of  the  journey,  if  they  can  but  pre- 
vail on  themselves  to  be  ignorant  of  many  things,  be  contented 
with  necessaries  to  salvation,  and  be  easy  in  regard  of  others." 
40. — Reflection  on  these  loords  of  Du  Moulin  approved  in  the  Synod  ofJly. 

How  to  agree  in  this  matter  was  the  question,  for  if  by  such 
things,  the  knowledge  of  which  is  necessary  to  salvation,  he 
understands  those  which  every  private  man  is  obliged  to  know, 
under  penalty  of  damnation,  this  common  Confession  of  Faith 
is  already  made  in  the  Creed  of  the  Apostles,  and  in  that  of 
Nice.  The  union  made  on  this  foundation  would  reach  much 
beyond  the  newly  reformed  churches,  nor  could  they  hinder  our 
being  comprehended  in  it ;  but,  "  if  by  the  knowledge  of  things 
necessary  to  salvation"  he  understands  the  full  explanation  of 
all  the  expressly  revealed  truths  of  God,  who  has  revealed  none 
the  knowledge  of  which  does  not  tend  to  secure  the  salvation  of 
his  faithful,  there  "  to  dissemble"  what  the  synods  have  declared 
"  expressly  revealed  of  God,"  with  "  detestation"  of  the  con- 
trary errors,  is  laughing  at  the  Church,  is  holding  her  decrees 
for  imposture  even  after  signing  them,  is  betraying  both  religion 
and  conscience. 

41. — Du  Movlin's  inconstancy. 

Now,  when  you  shall  perceive  that  this  same  Du  Moulin,  who 
makes  so  slight  a  matter,  not  of  Piscator's  propositions  only,  but 
also  of  the  much  more  important  ones  of  Arminius,  was  after- 
wards one  of  the  most  unmerciful  censors  of  them,  you  will  ac- 
knowledge, in  his  procedure,  the  perpetual  inconstancy  of  the 
new  Reformation,  always  suiting  her  dogmas  to  the  occasion. 

42. — Great  points  to  be  suppressed;  amongst  others,  that  xohich  is  contrary  to 

the  Real  Presence. 

To  conclude  the  account  of  this  project  of  reunion  then  con- 
certed, when  this  commoE  Confession  of  the  party  opposed  to  the 


XII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  165 

Lutherans  should  be  finished,  another  was  to  be  made  also,  but 
more  wide  and  general,  in  which  the  Lutherans  might  be  com- 
prehended.* Du  Moulin  here  sets  forth  all  the  ways  of  ex- 
pressing themselves,  so  as  "  not  to  condemn  the  Real  Presence, 
nor  Ubiquity,  nor  the  necessity  of  Baptism,"  nor  the  rest  of  the 
Lutheran  tenets  ;  and  what  he  cannot  save  by  equivocations  or 
indeterminate  expressions,  he  wraps  up  in  silence,  in  the  best 
way  he  can  ;  he  hopes  to  abolish  by  this  means  the  appellation 
of  Lutherans,  of  Calvinists,  of  Sacramentarians,  and,  by  force 
of  equivocating,  to  make  no  other  name  remain  for  Protestants 
than  the  common  one  of  the  Christian  Church  Reformed.  The 
whole  synod  of  the  Isle  of  France  applauded  this  fine  plan  ;  and 
this  union,  thus  completed,  it  would  be  time,  proceeds  this  min- 
ister, to  solicit  the  reconcihation  of  the  Church  of  Rome — but  he 
doubts  as  to  their  succeeding.  And  with  good  reason,  for  we 
have  not  one  instance  of  her  ever  approving  equivocations  in 
matters  of  religion,  or  consenting  to  the  suppression  of  articles 
she  once  believed  revealed  by  God. 
43. — Importance  of  the  disputes  among  the  defenders  of  the  figurative  sense. 
But  I  do  not  allow  to  Du  Moulin  and  the  rest  of  the  same 
party,  that  the  differences  in  their  Confessions  of  Faith  are  only 
in  the  method  and  expressions,  or  else  in  polity  and  ceremonies  ; 
or,  if  in  matters  of  faith,  in  such  only  as  had  not  yet  passed  into 
law  or  public  ordinance :  for  we  have  seen,  and  shall  see  the 
contrary  through  the  whole  sequel  of  this  history.  And  can 
they  say,  for  example,  that  the  doctrine  of  Episcopacy  wherein 
the  Church  of  England  is  so  firm,  and  carries  it  to  such  a  pitch 
as  to  receive  no  Calvinistic  ministers  without  reordaining  them, 
is  a  matter  only  of  expression,  or,  at  most,  of  mere  polity  and 
ceremony  1  Is  it  nothing  to  look  on  a  Church  as  utterly  desti- 
tute of  pastors  lawfully  ordained  ?  It  is  true  the  Calvinists  are 
even  with  them,  as  we  are  assured  by  one  of  their  famous  min- 
isters in  these  words  :  "  If  any  of  ours  should  teach  the  distinc- 
tion of  bishops  and  priests,  and  that  there  is  no  true  ministry 
without  bishops,  we  could  not  suffer  him  in  our  Communion,  that 
is  to  say,  at  least  in  our  ministry. "|  The  English  Protestants 
therefore  are  excluded  from  it.  Is  this  a  difference  of  small 
importance  1  This  same  minister  does  not  speak  so  of  it,  he 
being  agreed  that,  on  account  of  these  differences,  which  he  will 
have  but  small,  of  government  and  discipline,  they  treat  one 
another  as  persons  excommunicated.  J  If  we  descend  to  par- 
ticulars in  these  Confessions  of  Faith,  how  many  points  shall 
we  find  in  some  which  are  not  in  others  ?  And  in  reality,  were 
the  difference  in  words  only,  their  obstinacy  would  be  too  great 

*  Act.  Autli.  Blond,  pp.  12,  13.  t  jur-  Syst.  p.  214. 

I  Id.  avis,  aux  Prot.  n.  3,  at  the  begmning  ofliis  Prej.  Legit. 


166  THE  HISTORY  OF  [bOOK 

not  to  agree  after  so  frequently  attempting  it :  if  in  ceremonies 
only,  their  weakness  would  be  too  great  in  insisting  on  them  ; 
but  the  truth  is,  they  are  all  sensible  how  little  they  agree  in  the 
main  ;  and  if  they  boast  of  being  well  united,  this  only  serves 
to  confirm,  that  the  union  of  the  new  Reformation  is  rather  po- 
litical than  ecclesiastic. 

Nothing  now  remains  but  to  entreat  our  brethren  to  consider 
the  great  steps  they  have  seen  taken,  not  by  private  men,  but  by 
their  whole  churches,  touching  matters  decided  by  them  with 
all  the  authority,  said  they,  of  the  word  of  God :  yet  all  these 
decrees  came  to  nothing.  It  is  a  way  of  speaking  in  the  Ref- 
ormation always  to  name  the  word  of  God  :  they  believe  a  thing 
never  the  more  for  that,  nor  fear  the  least  to  suppress  what  they 
had  advanced  under  the  sanction  of  so  great  an  authority  ;  but 
we  must  not  wonder  at  it.  There  is  nothing  in  religion  more 
authentic  than  Confessions  of  Faith  ;  nothing  ought  to  have 
been  better  warranted  by  the  word  of  God  than  what  the  Cal- 
vinists  had  inserted  in  them  against  the  Real  Presence  and  the 
other  dogmas  of  the  Lutherans.  It  was  not.  only  Calvin  that 
accounted,  as  detestable,  the  invention  of  the  Corporeal  Pres- 
ence ;  De  corporali  prodsentid  detestabile  commentum  :*  the  whole 
Reformation  of  France  had  just  said,  in  body,  by  the  mouth  of 
Beza,  that  she  detested  this  monster,  as  well  the  Lutheran  Con- 
substantiation  as  the  Papistical  Transubstantiation.  But  there 
is  nothing  sincere,  nor  serious,  in  these  detestations  of  the  Real 
Presence,  since  they  were  ready  to  retrench  all  that  had  been 
said  against  it,  and  this,  not  only  by  decree  of  a  national  synod, 
but  by  a  joint  determination  of  the  whole  party  solemnly  as- 
sembled at  Frankfort.  The  doctrine  of  the  figurative  sense,  not 
to  speak  here  of  other  points,  after  so  many  battles  and  such  a 
number  of  pretended  martyrs,  would  have  been  buried  in  eternal 
silence,  had  it  but  pleased  the  Lutherans.  England,  France, 
Germany,  Switzerland,  the  Low  Countries,  in  a  word,  all  the 
Calvinists  any  where  to  be  found,  consented  to  this  suppression. 
How  therefore  can  men  remain  so  wedded  to  a  tenet,  which 
they  see  so  little  revelation  for,  that  it  is  already  cast  foilli  from 
the  profession  of  Christianity  by  the  concurrent  wishes  of  the 
whole  party, 

*  2lDef.  cont  Westp.  Opusc.  83.  S.  n.  9. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  167 

BOOK   XIII. 

THE  DOCTRINE  CONCERNING  ANTICHRIST,  AND  VARIA- 
TIONS ON  THIS  SUBJECT  FROM  LUTHER'S  TIME  DOWN 
TO  THIS. 

A  brief  Summary. — Variations  of  the  Protestants  in  regard  to  Antichrist. — 
Luther's  vain  predictions. — Calvin's  evasion. — What  Luther  lays  down, 
as  to  this  Doctrine,  is  contradicted  by  Melancthon. — A  new  article  of  Faith 
added  to  the  Confession  in  the  Synod  of  Gap. — The  foundation  of  this  de- 
cree manifestly  false. — This  Doctiine  despicable  in  the  Reformation. — 
The  absurdities,  contrarieties,  and  impieties  of  the  new  interpretation  of 
prophecies  proposed  by  Joseph  Mede,  and  maintained  by  the  minister  Ju- 
rieu. — The  most  holy  Doctors  of  the  Church  enrolled  amongst  Blas- 
phemers and  Idolaters. 

1. — Article  added  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  on  purpose  to  declare  the  Pope 

Antichrist. 

The  disputes  of  Arminius  raised  great  combustions  in  the 
United  Provinces,  and  it  were  now  time  to  treat  of  them  ;  but 
as  the  questions  and  decisions  resulting  from  them  are  of  a  more 
particular  discussion,  before  I  engage  therein,  a  famous  decree 
should  be  mentioned  of  the  Synod  of  Gap,  the  account  of  which 
was  deferred,  not  to  interrupt  the  affair  of  Piscator. 

It  was  therefore  in  this  Synod  and  in  1603,  that  a  new  decree 
was  made  to  declare  the  Pope  Antichrist.  This  decree  was 
counted  of  so  great  importance  that  it  passed  into  a  new  article 
of  faith,  the  thirty-first  in  order,  and  took  place  after  the  thirtieth, 
it  being  there  said  that  all  true  pastors  are  equal ;  so  that  what 
gives  the  Pope  the  character  of  Antichrist,  is  his  styling  him- 
self superior  to  other  bishops.  If  it  be  so,  it  is  a  great  while 
since  Antichrist  has  reigned  ;  nor  do  I  conceive  why  the  Ref- 
ormation has  so  long  deferred  enrolling  in  the  catalogue  of  this 
great  number  of  Antichrists  she  has  introduced,  St.  Innocent, 
St.  Leo,  St.  Gregory,  and  the  rest  of  the  Popes  whose  epistles 
show  us  the  exercise  of  this  superiority  in  every  page. 

2. — Luther^s  einpty  prophecies,  and  Calvin's  as  empty  shift. 
Now  when  Luther  so  gi-eatly  exaggerated  this  new  doctrine 
of  the  Antichristian  papacy,  he  did  it  with  that  prophetic  air 
above  remarked  in  him.*  We  have  seen  in  what  a  strain  he 
foretold  the  downfall  of  the  Papal  power ;  and  how  his  preach- 
ing was  that  breath  of  Jesus  Christ  which  was  to  overthrow  the 
man  of  sin ;  without  arms,  without  violence,  by  himself  alone, 
without  any  intervening  power :  so  dazzled,  so  intoxicated  was 
he  with  the  unexpected  effect  of  his  eloquence  !  The  whole 
Reformation  was  in  expectation  of  the  speedy  accomplishment 
of  this  new  prophesy.  But  when  they  saw  the  Pope  still  keep 
his  ground,  (for  many  more  than  Luther  will  split  against  this 

*  Sup.  1.  i.  n.  31. 


168  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

rock,)  and  that  the  Pontifical  power,  so  far  from  tumbling  at  the 
blast  of  this  false  prophet,  maintained  itself  against  the  con- 
spiracy of  so  many  revolted  powers,  insomuch  that  the  attach- 
ment of  God's  people  to  this  sacred  authority,  which  makes  the 
band  of  their  unity,  redoubled  rather  than  was  weakened  by  so 
numerous  a  defection,  they  laughed  at  the  illusion  of  Luther's 
prophecies,  and  at  the  weak  credulity  of  those  who  took  them 
for  celestial  oracles.  Yet  Calvin  had  his  evasion  ready  when 
he  said  to  one  that  ridiculed  them,*  that  "  though  the  body  of 
the  Papacy  subsisted  still,  the  spirit  and  hfe  had  forsaken  it  so 
as  to  leave  nothing  but  a  dead  carcass."  Thus  men  will  run 
the  hazard  of  a  prophesy,  and  if  the  event  does  not  answer,  a 
flash  of  wit  brings  them  off. 

3. — Daniel  and  St.  Paul  brought  in  to  no  purpose. 

But  they  tell  us  with  a  serious  air  it  is  a  prophesy,  not  of  Lu- 
ther, but  of  the  Scripture,  and  evidently  to  be  seen  (so  it  should 
since  it  is  an  article  of  faith)  in  St.  Paul,  and  in  Daniel.  As 
for  the  Revelations,  Luther  did  not  think  fit  to  employ  this  book, 
nor  receive  it  into  his  canon.  But  for  St.  Paul,|  what  could  be 
more  evident,  seeing  that  the  Pope  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God? 
In  the  Church,  says  Luther,J  that  is  questionless  in  the  true 
Church, the  true  templeof  God;  itbeing  unexampled  in  Scripture, 
that  a  temple  of  idols  was  ever  called  by  this  name  :  so  that  the 
first  step  they  must  make  towards  a  right  understanding  how  the 
Pope  is  Antichrist,  is  to  acknowledge  that  Church,  wherein  he 
presides,  for  the  true  Church.  What  follows  is  not  less  man- 
ifest. Who  does  not  see  how  "  the  Pope  showeth  himself  that 
he  is  God,  exalting  himself  above  all  that  is  worshipped  1" 
Chiefly  in  that  sacrifice  so  much  condemned  by  our  Reformers, 
in  which,  for  proof  that  he  is  God,  the  Pope  confesses  his  sins 
with  all  the  people ;  raises  himself  above  every  thing  by  en- 
treating all  the  saints  and  all  his  brethren  to  beg  forgiveness  for 
him  ;  also  by  declaring  afterwards,  and  in  the  most  holy  part  of 
this  sacrifice,  that  he  hopes  this  forgiveness,  "  not  through  his 
own  merits,  but  through  the  bounty  and  grace,  and  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  V  A  new  kind  of  Antichrist,  that 
obliges  all  his  adherents  to  place  their  hope  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
for  always  having  been  the  most  firm  assertor  of  his  divinity,  is 
placed  by  the  Sociniaas  at  the  head  of  all  Anfichrists,  as  the  chief 
of  them  all,  and  as  the  most  incompatible  with  their  doctrine. 
4. — Protestants  discredit  themselves  by  tJds  Doctnne. 

But  again,  if  such  a  dream  can  deserve  our  serious  attention, 
which  of  all  these  Popes  is  "  that  man  of  sin  and  the  son  of  per- 
dition specified  by  St.  Paul?"  We  never  met  in  Scripture  with 
the  like  expressions,  unless  to  characterize  some  particular  per- 
*  Gratul.  ad  Yen.  Presbji;.  opusc.  p.  33 1.    12  Thess.  ii.  4.    |  Sup.  1.  iil  n,  50. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  169 

son.  No  matter  for  that :  all  the  Popes  since  St.  Gregoiy,  as 
they  said  heretofore,  and  as  they  say  at  present,  all  the  Popes 
since  St.  Leo,  are  "  this  man  of  sin,  this  son  of  perdition,  and 
this  Antichrist,"  though  they  converted  to  Christianity  England, 
Germany,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Holland ;  so  that  all  these 
countries,  by  embracing  the  Reformation,  did  publicly  acknowl- 
edge that  they  had  received  Christianity  from  Antichrist  himself. 
5. — Illusions  with  regard  to  the  Revelations. 
Who  can  relate  here  the  mysteries  our  Reformed  have  found 
in  the  Revelations,  and  the  deceitful  prodigies  of  the  beast,  which 
arc  the  miracles  Rome  attributes  to  saints  and  their  relics  ;  to 
the  end  that  St.  Austin,  and  St.  Chrysostom,  and  St.  Ambrose, 
and  the  rest  of  the  Fathers,  who,  they  allow,  published  the  like 
miracles  with  unanimous  consent,  may  be  the  precursors  of 
Antichrist?  What  shall  I  say  of  the  character  which  the  beast 
stamps  on  the  forehead,  which  in  their  language  m(;ans  the  sign 
even  of  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  holy  chrism  which 
is  employed  to  imprint  it :  to  the  end  that  St.  Cyprian,  and  all 
the  other  bishops  before  and  after,  who  most  undoubtedly,  as  is 
confessed,  did  apply  this  character,  may  be  Antichrists  ;  and  the 
faithful,  who  bore  it  ever  since  the  origin  of  Christianity,  be 
stigmatized  with  the  badge  of  the  beast ;  and  the  sign  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  become  the  seal  of  his  adversary.  It  is  irksome 
to  relate  all  their  impieties,  and  for  my  part,  I  am  verily  per- 
suaded, it  was  these  impertinences  and  profanations  of  the  holy 
book  of  the  Revelations,  which  were  seen  increasing  without 
end  in  the  new  Reformation,  that  brought  the  ministers  them- 
selves, weary  of  hearing  them,  to  a  resolution  in  the  national 
synod  of  Saumur,*  "  that  no  pastor  should  undertake  the  expo- 
sition of  the  Revelations,  without  the  advice  of  a  provincial  synod.'* 

G. — This  Doctrine  concerning  Antichrist  was  not  till  then  in  any  one  act  of  the 
Reformation  :  Luther  places  it  among  the  Smalcaldic  articles,  but  Melancthon 
opposes  it. 

Now  although  the  ministers  had  never  ceased  to  animate  the 
people  by  these  odious  notions  of  Antichristianism,  they  had 
never  ventured  hitherto  to  let  them  appear  in  the  confessions  of 
faith,  though  never  so  outrageous  against  the  Pope.  Luther 
alone  had  placed,  among  the  articles  of  Smalcald,  a  long  article 
concerning  the  papacy,  more  resembling  a  satirical  declamation 
than  a  dogmatical  article,  and  in  it  inserted  this  doctrine  ;|  but 
this  example  was  followed  by  none  else.  More  than  this,  when 
Luther  proposed  the  article,  Melancthon  refused  to  subscribe 
it,  and  we  have  heard  him  say,  with  the  general  consent  of  the 
whole  party,  that  the  Pope's  superiority  was  so  great  a  benefit 
to  the  Church,  that  were  it  not  established,  it  ought  to  be  so ;  J 
*  Syn.ofSaumur.1596.      f  S.l.iv.n.38.      J  S.  1.  iii.  n,  39.    L.  v.  n,  24.  1603. 

VOL.  II.  15 


170  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

nevertheless,  it  was  precisely  in  this  superiority  that  our  Re- 
formed acknowledged  the  character  of  Antichrist  at  the  synod 
of  Gap  in  1603. 

7. — Decision  of  the  Synod  of  Gap. — Its  false  Foundation* 
There  they  said,  "  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  pretended  to  a 
dominion  over  all  the  churches  and  pastors,  and  styled  himself 
God."  In  what  place?  in  what  counciH  in  what  profession 
of  faith  1  it  is  what  they  should  have  specified,  this  being  the 
foundation  of  the  decree.  But  they  durst  not  do  it,  for  then  it 
would  have  appeared  they  had  nothing  to  produce  but  the  words 
of  some  impertinent  interpreter,  viz.,  that  in  a  certain  manner, 
and  in  the  sense  God  speaks  to  Judges,  *'  Ye  are  gods,"  the 
Pope  might  be  called  God.  Grotius  laughed  at  this  objection 
of  his  party,  asking  them  since  what  time  the  hyperboles  of 
some  flatterer  were  taken  for  received  dogmas  ?  Nor,  indeed, 
we  may  safely  say  it,  has  this  reproach  of  the  Pope's  naming 
himself  God,  any  other  foundation  than  this.  On  this  founda- 
tion they  decide  that  "he  is  properly  the  Antichrist,  and  the  son  of 
perdition  pointed  at  in  the  word  of  God,  and  the  beast  clothed  with 
scarlet  whom  the  Lord  will  discomfit,  as  he  promised,  and  as  he 
has  already  begun  to  do  :"  and  this  is  what  was  to  constitute  the 
thirty-first  article  of  faith  for  our  pretended  Reformed  of  France, 
according  to  the  decree  of  Gap,  chapter  concerning  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith.  This  new  article  had  for  title,  "  Article  Omitted." 
The  Synod  of  Rochelle  gave  orders,  in  1607,  that  this  article 
of  Gap,  "  as  most  true  and  conformable  to  what  was  foretold  in 
Scripture,  and  which  we  see  in  our  days  manifestly  fulfilled, 
should  be  inserted  in  the  copies  of  the  Confession  of  Faith 
which  were  to  be  printed  anew."  But  it  was  judged  of  dan- 
gerous consequence  to  suffer  a  religion,  tolerated  under  certain 
conditions,  and  under  a  determinate  confession  of  faith,  to  mul- 
tiply its  articles  as  its  ministers  should  think  fit,  and  a  stop  was 
put  to  the  effect  of  the  synod's  decree. 

8. — Occasion  of  this  Decree. 

It  may  be  asked,  perhaps,  what  spirit  moved  them  to  this 
novelty.  The  secret  is  discovered  by  the  synod  itself.  We 
there  read  these  words  in  the  chapter  concerning  Discipline  : 
"  Forasmuch  as  many  are  uneasy  for  having  the  Pope  called 
Antichrist,  the  company  protests  this  is  the  common  belief  and 
confession  of  us  all,  by  ill  luck  omitted,  nevertheless  in  all  pre- 
cedent editions,  and  the  foundation  of  our  separating  from  the 
Church  of  Rome,  a  foundation  drawn  from  the  Scripture,  and 
sealed  with  the  blood  of  so  many  martyrs."  Wretched  martyrs, 
who  spill  their  blood  for  a  tenet  absolutely  forgotten  in  all 
the  Confessions  of  Faith  !     But  it  is  true  that  of  late  it  is  be- 


XIII.]  THE   VARIATIONS,    ETC.  171 

come  the  most  important  of  all,  and  the  most  essential  subject 
of  the  breach. 

9. — This  Doctnne  relating  to  Antichrist,  how  despised  in  the  Reformation. 

Let  us  now  hearken  to  an  author,  who  alone  makes  more 
noise  in  his  whole  party  than  all  the  rest,  and  whom  they  seem  to 
have  intrusted  with  the  whole  defence  of  the  cause,  none  but  he 
any  longer  entering  the  lists.  Here  is  what  he  says  in  that  fa- 
mous book  entitled,  "  The  Accomplishment  of  the  Prophecies."* 
He  complains,  above  every  thing  else,  "  that  this  controversy 
concerning  Antichrist  had  languished  a  whole  century,  and  was 
abandoned  through  policy,  and  in  obedience  to  popish  princes. 
Had  tliis  great  and  important  truth,  that  popery  is  Antichristian- 
ism,  been  "placed  before  the  eyes  of  the  Reformed,  they  would 
not  have  fallen  into  that  remissness  we  see  them  in  at  this  day. 
But  it  was  so  long  ago  since  they  had  heard  the  thing  mention- 
ed, that  they  had  quite  forgotten  it."  Here,  then,  is  one  of  the 
fundamentals  of  the  Reformation ;  "  and  nevertheless,"  con- 
tinues this  author,!  "  it  so  happened,  through  a  manifest  blind- 
ness, that  we  were  solely  bent  on  controversies  which  were  but 
accessaries,  and  neglected  this,  that  popery  is  the  Antichristian 
empire."  The  more  he  enters  into  the  subject,  the  warmer  his 
imagination  grows.  "  In  my  judgment,"  proceeds  he, J  "  this 
is  so  capital  a  truth,  that  without  it,  we  cannot  be  true  Chris- 
tians." And  in  another  place  ;  "  Verily,"  says  he,  "  I  so  greatly 
account  this  an  article  of  a  true  Christian's  faith,  that  I  cannot 
hold  those  for  good  Christians  who  deny  this  truth,  after  the  event 
and  labors  of  so  many  great  men  have  set  it  in  so  evident  a 
light."  Here  is  a  new  fundamental  article  which  they  had  not 
as  yet  thought  on,  nay,  on  the  contrary,  which  the  Reformation 
had  unfortunately  abandoned  :  "  for,"  adds  he,§  "  this  contro- 
versy was  so  thoroughly  extinguished,  that  our  adversaries  be- 
lieved it  dead,  and  imagined  we  had  renounced  this  pretension, 
a?id  this  foundation  of  our  whole  reform." 

10. — Confuted  by  the  most  learned  Protestants,  Grotius,  Hammond,  Juricu 

himself. 

For  my  own  part  thus  much  is  true,  that  I  never  in  my  life  have 
met  with  any  man  of  good  sense  among  our  Protestants,  that 
laid  stress  on  this  article  :  in  sincerity,  they  were  ashamed  of  so 
great  an  excess,  and  more  in  pain  how  to  excuse  the  transports 
of  their  own  people  that  introduced  this  prodigy  into  the  world, 
than  we  were  to  impugn  it.  Their  ablest  men  freed  us  from 
this  labor.  It  is  well  known  what  the  learned  Grotius  wrote  on 
this  subject,  and  how  clearly  he  has  demonstrated  that  the  Pope 

*  Avis.  t.  i.  p.  48.  t  Ibid.  p.  49. 

\  Ibid.  Ace.  des  Proph.  part  i.  ch.  xvi.  p.  292.         §  Avis.  t.  i.  p.  49,  50. 


172  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

could  not  be  Antichrist.*  If  the  authority  of  Grotius  seem  not 
weighty  enough  to  our  Reformed,  because  truly  this  learned  man, 
by  studying  carefully  the  Scriptures,  and  reading  the  ancient  ec- 
clesiastical authors,  disabused  himself  by  little  and  little  of  the 
errors  he  was  born  in.  Doctor  Hammond,  that  learned  English- 
man, was  not  suspected  in  the  party.  Nevertheless,  he  took  no 
less  pains  than  Grotius  to  destroy  the  frenzies  of  Protestants 
touching  the  Antichristianism  charged  on  the  Pope. 

These  authors,  with  some  others,  whom  our  minister  is  pleased 
to  call  "  the  shame  and  reproach,  not  only  of  the  Reformation, 
but  also  of  the  Christian  name,"|  were  in  every  body's  hands, 
and  received  the  praises  not  only  of  the  Catholics,  but  likewise 
of  all  the  able  and  moderate  men  amongst  Protestants.  M. 
Jurieu  himself  is  moved  with  their  authority.  For  which  reason, 
in  his  book  of  "  Lawful  Prepossessions,"  J  he  delivers  all  he 
says  of  Antichrist  as  a  thing  not  unanimously  received,  as  a 
thing  undecided,  as  a  picture  "  whose  lineaments  are  applicable 
to  different  subjects,  some  whereof  have  already  happened,  and 
others  perchance  are  yet  to  come."  Accordingly,  the  use  he 
makes  of  it  is  as  of  a  prepossession  against  popery,  not  as  a 
demonstration.  But  now  the  case  is  quite  altered  ;  what  was 
undecided  before,  is  now  become  the  groundwork  of  the  whole 
Reformation  ;  "  for  certainly,"  says  our  author,§  "  I  do  not  be- 
lieve this  Reformation  otherwise  well  grounded  than  for  this 
reason,  that  the  Church  we  have  abandoned  is  true  Antichris- 
tianism." Let  them  no  longer  perplex  themselves  as  hitherto, 
in  search  of  their  fundamental  articles  ;  here  is  the  foundation 
of  foundations,  without  which  the  Reformation  would  have  been 
unjustifiable.  What  will  then  become  of  it  if  this  doctrine, 
"  popery  is  true  Antichristianism,"  falls  of  itself,  merely  by  ex- 
posing it  ?  This  will  be  perceived  clearly  by  a  little  attention 
to  what  follows. 

11. — Exposition  of  the  Minister  Jurieii's  Doctrine. 

There  needs  only  to  consider  that  the  whole  mystery  consists 
in  clearly  showing  what  it  is  that  constitutes  this  pretended  An- 
tichristianism. The  next  point  to  be  determined,  is  the  begin- 
ning of  it,  its  duration  and  its  period,  the  most  speedy  that  it  is 
possible,  in  order  to  comfort  those  who  are  wearied  with  so  te- 
dious an  expectation.  He  thinks  he  has  found,  in  the  Revela- 
tions, an  infallible  light  for  the  unfolding  of  this  secret,  and  sup- 
poses, by  taking  the  days  for  years,  that  the  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days  assigned  in  the  Revelations ||  for  Antichrist's  perse- 
cution, make  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years  :  let  us  take  all 
this  for  truth,  for  our  business  here  is  not  to  dispute,  but  relate 

*  Avis.  p.  4,  Ace.  part  i.  ch.  xvi.  p.  291.  f  Ibid.  p.  4. 

I  Prej.  leg.  part  i.  ch.  iv.  pp.  72.  73.      §  Ibid.  p.  50.      1|  Rev.  xi.  xii.  xiii. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  173 

historically  the  doctrine  given  us  for  the  groundwork  of  the 
Reformation. 

12. — M.  Jurieu  labors  hard  to  abridge  the  time  of  his  pretended  prophecies. 

At  first,  he  is  very  much  puzzled  about  these  twelve  hundred 
and  sixty  years  of  persecution.  Persecution  is  very  wearisome, 
and  gladly  would  he  find  a  speedy  end  put  to  it :  it  is  what  our 
author  openly  manifests  ;  for  since  what  happened  last  in  France, 
"  my  soul  being  cast,"  says  he,*  "  into  the  deepest  abyss  of 
grief  that  I  ever  felt  in  my  life,  I  was  wilUng  for  my  comfort  to 
find  grounds  to  hope  a  speedy  deliverance  for  the  Church." 
Bent  on  this  design,  he  goes  to  search  "  even  in  the  fountain 
head  of  the  Sacred  Oracles,  to  see,"  says  he,"j"  "  whether  the 
Holy  Ghost  would  not  teach  me,  in  regard  to  the  approaching 
downfall  of  the  Antichristian  empire,  something  more  sure  and 
more  precise  than  what  other  interpreters  had  discovered  in  them." 
13. — This  Authoi'  owns  his  prevention. 

Men  generally  find,  right  or  wrong,  whatever  they  have  a  mind 
in  prophecies,  that  is,  in  obscure  places  and  enigmatic  sayings, 
when  violent  prejudices  accompany  them.  This  author  ac- 
knowledges his  own  :  "  I  will  own  it,"  says  he, J  "with  sincerity, 
that  I  approached  these  divine  oracles  full  of  my  prejudices,  and 
entirely  disposed  to  believe  that  we  were  near  to  the  end  of  the 
reign  and  empire  of  Antichrist."  As  he  confesses  himself  pre- 
possessed, he  desires  also  to  be  read  with  favorable  preventions :  § 
if  so,  he  is  persuaded  you  cannot  but  enter  into  his  notions  ;  all 
will  go  on  smoothly  with  this  allowance. 

14. — He  forsakes  his  guides,  and  why. 

Here  is  he  then  well  convicted,  by  his  own  confession,  that  he 
commenced  reading  the  word  of  God,  not  with  a  mind  disea- 
gaged  from  his  prejudices,  and  thereby  in  a  fit  temper  to  receive 
the  impressions  of  divine  light ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  with  a  mind 
"  full  of  its  prejudices,"  disheartened  with  persecutions,  abso- 
lutely determined  to  find  the  end  of  them,  and  the  approaching 
overthrow  of  this  so  irksome  an  empire.  He  finds  all  the  in- 
terpreters put  it  off  to  a  distant  date.  Joseph  Mede,  whom  he 
had  chosen  for  his  guide,  and  who  had  indeed  set  out  so  much 
to  his  liking,  lost  his  way  at  last;  for  whereas  he  hoped,  by  the 
means  of  so  good  a  guide,  "  to  see  the  persecution  ended  in  five 
and  twenty  or  thirty  years'  time,"  to  accomplish  what  Mede 
proposes,  he  must  stay  many  ages.  "  Thus  are  we,"  says  he,|| 
"  very  much  retarded,  and  greatly  remote  from  our  reckoning  : 
we  must  still  wait  these  many  ages."  This  was  too  much  for 
a  man  in  such  haste  to  see  an  end,  and  to  publish  better  tidinge 
to  his  brethren. 

*  Avis.  p.  4.  t  Ibid.  pp.  7,  8.  |  Ibid.  p.  8.  §  Ibid.  p.  53. 

II  Accomp.  part  ii.  ch.  iv.  p.  60. 
VOL.  II.  15* 


174  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

15. — The  impcssibility  of  settling  the  beginning  of  these  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  years  xohich  the  Reformation  alloxos  to  the  persecution  of  Antichnst. 

But  after  all,  do  what  he  will,  he  is  obliged  to  find  full  twelve 
hundred  and  sixty  years  of  persecution.  To  give  a  speedy  end 
to  them,  it  is  necessary  to  date  the  beginning  early.  The  greatest 
number  of  the  Calvinists  had  begun  this  reckoning  from  the  time 
we  began,  as  they  pretended,  to  say  Mass,  and  to  adore  the 
Eucharist;  for  that  was  the  god  Mauzzim,  whom  Antichrist 
was  to  worship,  according  to  Daniel.*  Among  other  fine  alle- 
gories, there  was  somewhat  of  a  resemblance  in  sound  between 
Mauzzim  and  the  Mass.  Crespin  makes  a  mighty  stir  with  this 
in  his  "  History  of  the  Martyrs,"|  and  the  whole  party  is  ravished 
with  the  invention.  But  how  !  place  the  adoration  of  the  Eu- 
charist in  the  first  ages  1  it  is  too  soon  :  in  the  tenth  or  eleventh, 
in  Berengarius's  time  1  that  may  be  done  ;  those  are  ages  the 
Reformation  is  little  concerned  about :  but  after  all,  supposing 
these  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  whole  years  to  commence  in  the 
tenth  or  eleventh  century,  there  would  remain  still  six  hundred 
and  sixty  years  of  troublesome  times  to  rub  through.  Our  author 
is  disheartened  at  this,  and  his  ingenuity  would  be  of  little  service, 
could  it  not  furnish  him  with  some  more  favorable  expedient. 

16. — Jsl'ew  date  given  to  the  birth  of  Antichrist  by  this  Minister  in  his  prepos- 
sessions. 

Until  now  the  party  had  shown  a  regard  for  St.  Gregory.    It 

is  true,  Masses  were  discovered  in  him  abundantly,  even  for  the 

dead,  invocations  of  saints  in  plenty,  a  number  of  relics ;  and 

what  is  very  disagreeable  to  the  Reformation,  a  strong  persuasion 

of  the  authority  of  his  see.     Yet,  for  all  this,  his  holy  doctrine 

and  holy  life  made  him  be  revered.     Luther  and  Calvin  had 

called  him  the  last  bishop  of  Rome ;  his  successors  were  nothing 

but  Popes  and  Antichrists  ;  but  as  for  him,  it  was  not  feasible 

to  make  him  of  that  number.      Our  author  was  bolder,  and  in 

his  "  Lawful  Prepossessions"  (for  he  began  there  to  be  inspired 

to  interpret  the  Revelations)  after  frequently  deciding  with  all 

his  interpreters,  that  Antichrist  must  begin  with  the  ruin  of  the 

Roman  empire,  he  declared,J  "  This  empire  ceased  when  Rome 

ceased  to  be  the  capital  city  of  the  provinces,  when  this  empire 

was  dismembered  into  ten  parts,  which  happened  at  the  end  of 

the  fifth  century,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth."     This  he 

repeats  four  or  five  times,  that  you  may  not  doubt  of  it,  and  at 

last  concludes  thus  :§  "It  is,  then,  certain,  that  at  tlie  beginning 

of  the  sixth  age,  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  were  great  enough, 

and  the  pride  of  the  bishop  of  Rome  already  risen  high  enough, 

to  make  us  determine  on  this  era  for  the  first  birth  of  the  Anti- 

*  Dan.  xi.  38.  t  Hist,  des  Mart,  by  Cresp.  L  i. 

J  Prej.  leg.  part.  i.  p.  82,  §  Ibid.  pp.  83,  85. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  175 

christian  empire."  And  again  :*  "  One  may  well  reckon  for  the 
birth  of  the  Antichristian  empire  a  time,  wherein  were  already 
seen  all  the  sprouts  of  future  corruption  and  tyranny."  And, 
finally,  "this  dismembering  of  the  Roman  empire  into  ten  pieces, 
happened  about  the  year  500,  a  little  before  the  end  of  the  fifth 
century,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth."  It  is,  then,  manifest 
we  must  begin  from  thence  to  count  the  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  years  assigned  for  the  duration  of  the  Popish  empire. 

17. — The  times  do  not  tally  right  with  it,  by  reason  of  the  sanctity  of  the  then 

Popes. 

Unfortunately,  the  Church  of  Rome  is  not  found  sufficiently 
corrupted  in  those  days  to  make  an  Antichristian  church  of  her, 
for  the  Popes  of  those  times  were  the  most  zealous  defenders 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  incarnation  and  redemption  of  mankind, 
and  withal  as  illustrious  for  sanctity  as  ever  the  Church  had. 
We  need  but  hear  the  enconium  which  Dionysius  Parvus, |  so 
learned  and  pious  a  man,  gives  St.  Gelasius,  the  Pope,  who  was 
seated  in  St.  Peter's  chair  from  the  year  492  to  the  year  496. 
We  shall  there  see,  that  the  whole  life  of  this  holy  Pope  was 
either  reading  or  prayer :  his  fasting,  his  poverty,  and,  in  the 
poverty  of  his  life,  his  immense  charity  to  the  poor,  his  doctrine, 
in  short,  and  his  great  watchfulness,  that  made  him  account  the 
least  remissness  in  a  pastor  of  dangerous  consequence  to  souls, 
formed  in  him  such  a  bishop  as  St.  Paul  describes.  This  is 
the  Pope  whom  this  learned  man  beheld  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter 
towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  century,  when,  it  seems.  Antichrist 
w^as  born.  Even  a  hundred  years  after  him,  St.  Gregory  the 
Great  was  seated  in  this  chair,  and  the  whole  Church,  in  the 
East  no  less  than  in  the  West,  was  replenished  with  the  odor 
of  his  virtues,  amongst  which  his  humility  and  zeal  shone  con- 
spicuous. Nevertheless,  he  was  seated  in  the  chair  which  "  be- 
gan to  be  the  seat  of  pride,  and  that  of  the  beast."  J  These  are 
fine  beginnings  for  Antichrist.  Had  these  Popes  been  pleased 
to  be  something  more  wicked,  and  defended  with  less  zeal  the 
mystery  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  cause  of  piety,  the  system  v/ould 
fit  better  ;  but  every  thing  is  settled  :  Antichrist,  then,  was  only 
in  his  minority,§  and  in  this  nonage  nothing  hindered  his  being 
a  Saint,  and  a  most  zealous  defender  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his 
kingdom.  These  were  our  author's  discoveries  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  1685,  and  when  he  composed  his  "  lawful  Pre- 
possessions." 

18. — The  Author  changes  his  mind,  and  is  for  advancing  the  overthroxo  of 

Jlntichnst. 

But  upon  his  observing,  towards  the  end  of  the  same  year, 

*  Prej.  leg.  part  i.  p.  128.         f  Pref.  Coll.  decret.  cod.  Hist.  t.  i.  p.  183. 
X  Prej.  leg.  part  i.  p.  147.  §  Ibid.  128. 


176  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  with  all  the  consequences 
of  it,  this  great  event  made  him  change  his  prophecies,  and 
advance  the  time  of  the  downfall  of  Antichrist's  kingdom.  The 
author  would  have  it  in  his  power  to  say,  he  hoped  to  live  to  be 
an  eyewitness  of  it.  In  1686,  he  published  his  great  work  of 
the  "  Accomplishment  of  the  Prophecies,"*  wherein  he  deter- 
mines the  period  of  the  Antichristian  persecution  at  the  year 
1710,  or  at  least  in  1714  or  1716.  But  he  informs  his  reader 
that,  after  all,  he  thinks  it  a  difficult  matter  to  mark  precisely 
the  year.  "  God,"  says  he,  "  in  his  prophecies,  looks  not  mto 
matters  so  minidehj.^^  Stupendous  maxim  !  Nevertheless,  "  one 
may  say,"  proceeds  he,  "  this  must  happen  between  the  year 
1710  and  the  year  1715."  This  we  may  depend  upon,  and 
what  he  calls  persecution  will  be  at  an  end  for  certain,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  so  we  draw  near  the  point : 
scarce  five-and- twenty  years  remain.  Which  of  the  zealous 
Calvinists  would  not  have  patience,  and  wait  so  short  a  term  1 

19.  He  is  obliged  to  make  him  be  born  in  the  person  of  St.  Leo  the  Great. 

The  truth  is,  there  is  some  difficulty  in  the  thing ;  for  the 
more  he  advances  the  end  of  the  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years, 
the  higher  must  he  carry  the  beginning  of  them,  and  settle  this 
epoch  of  the  Antichristian  empire  in  still  purer  times.  Thus 
to  finish  in  1710,  or  thereabouts,  he  must  have  begun  the  Anti- 
christian persecution  in  the  year  450  or  454,  under  the  Ponti- 
ficate of  St.  Leo  ;  and  accordingly  it  is  what  the  author  chooses 
after  Joseph  Mede,  who,  in  our  days,  has  made  himself  famous 
in  England  by  his  learned  extravagancies  on  the  Revelations, 
and  the  other  prophecies  employed  against  us. 

20. — Absurdity  of  this  System. 
It  seems  as  if  God  had  a  design  to  confound  these  impostors 
by  filling  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  with  the  greatest  men  and  greatest 
Saints  it, ever  had,  at  the  time  which  was  selected  to  make  it 
the  seat  of  Antichrist.  Can  one  but  consider  the  letters  and 
sermons  wherein  St.  Leo  inspires,  even  at  this  day,  so  forcibly 
into  his  readers  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  believe  that  an 
Antichrist  was  the  author  of  them  1  But  what  other  Pope  has 
impuT;ned  more  vigorously  the  enemies  of  Jesus  Christ,  has 
maintained  with  more  zeal  both  Christian  grace  and  ecclesias- 
tical discipline,  and,  in  fine,  given  to  the  world  a  more  holy 
doctrine,  with  more  holy  examples'?  He,  whose  sanctity  made 
him  be  revered  by  the  barbarous  Attil^,  and  saved  Rome  from 
massacre,  is  the  first  Antichrist,  and  father  of  all  the  rest.  It 
was  Antichrist  thatheld  the  Fourth  General  Council,so  respected 
by  all  good  Christians  ;  it  was  Antichrist  that  dictated  the  divine 

*  Ace.  part  ii.  ch.  ii.  pp.  18,  28. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  177 

letter  to  Flavian,  which  was  the  admiration  of  the  whole  church, 
wherein  the  mystery  of  Jesus  Christ  is  so  sublimely  and  so 
distinctly  explained,  that  the  Fathers  of  this  great  Council  cried 
out  at  each  word,  "  Peter  has  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  Leo  ;" 
whereas  they  should  have  said,  by  his  mouth  Antichrist  has 
spoken,  or  rather,  Peter  and  Jesus  Christ  himself  have  spoken 
by  the  mouth  of  Antichrist.  Must  not  a  man  have  drunk  deep, 
even  to  the  dregs  of  that  infatuating  cup,  the  potion  of  the  lying 
prophets  of  old,  and  turned  his  head  quite  giddy  with  its  fumes, 
to  vent  to  the  world  such  delirious  exorbitances  1 
21. — Idle  sJiift  of  the  Minister. 

At  this  part  of  the  prophecy,  the  new  prophet  foresaw  the 
indignation  of  mankind,  and  that  of  Protestants  no  less  than 
Catholics  ;  for  he  is  forced  to  own  that,  from  Leo  the  First  to 
Gregoiy  the  Great,  inclusively,  Rome  had  a  great  many  good 
bishops,*  of  whom  he  must  make  as  many  Antichrists,  and 
hopes  to  satisfy  the  world  by  saying  they  were  "  Antichrists 
commenced."  But  after  all,  if  the  twelve  hundred  and  sixty 
years  of  Antichristian  persecution  begin  then,  he  must  either 
abandon  the  sense  he  gives  to  the  prophecy,  or  say,  that  then 
"  the  holy  city  was  ti'od  under  foot  by  the  Gentiles  ;|  the  two 
witnesses,"  namely,  "  the  small  number  of  the  faithful,"  were 
put  to  death,  "  the  woman  with  child,"  to  wit,  the  church,  "  was 
driven  into  the  wilderness,"  and  deprived  at  least  of  the  public 
exercise  of  religion ;  that  from  that  time,  in  short,  began  the 
execrable  "  blasphemies  of  the  beast  against  the  name  of  God, 
and  against  all  those  that  dwell  in  heaven,  and  the  war  she 
w^aged  against  the  Saints. "J  For  it  is  set  down  expressly  in 
St.  John,  that  all  this  was  to  continue  a  thousand  two  hundred 
and  threescore  days,  which  he  will  have  to  be  years.  To  make 
these  blasphemies,  this  war,  this  Antichristian  persecution,  and 
this  triumph  of  error,  to  begin  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  even 
from  the  time  of  St.  Leo,  St.  Gelasius,  and  St.  Gregory,  and 
make  it  hold  on  for  the  space  of  all  these  ages,  when  unques- 
tionably that  church  was  the  model  of  all  other  churches,  not 
in  faith  alone,  but  also  in  piety  and  disciphne,  is  the  height  of 
all  extravagance. 

22. — Three  bad  characters  imputed  to  St.  Leo. 

But  again,  what  has  St.  Leo  done  to  deserve  to  be  the  first 
Antichrist  1  He  could  not  be  Antichrist  for  nothing.  Here  are 
the  three  characters  he  gives  to  Antichristianism,  which  must 
be  made  to  agree  with  the  time  of  St.  Leo,  and  Avith  him  in 
person  ;  "  Idolatry,  tyranny,  and  corruption  of  manners. "§  How 
deplorable,  to  be  reduced  to  defend  St.  Leo  against  Christians, 

*  Ace.  part  ii.  ch.  ii.  pp.  39,  40,  41.  f  Rev.  xi.  2.  J  Ace.  part  ii.  oh. 
X.  p.  159,  Rev.  xii.  6,  14.  xiii.  5,  6.         §  Ibid.  ch.  ii.  pp.  18,  28. 


178  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

from  all  these  reproaches  !  but  charity  constrains  us  to  it.  Let 
us  begin  by  the  corruption  of  manners.  But  then  nothing  is 
objected  against  him  on  this  head  ;  nothing  can  be  found  in  the 
life  of  this  great  Pope  but  examples  of  sanctity.  In  his  time 
ecclesiastical  discipline  was  still  in  its  full  vigor,  and  St.  Leo 
was  the  support  of  it.  Thus  you  see  how  manners  were  cor- 
rupted. Let  us  run  over  the  other  characters,  that  of  tyranny 
next,  in  as  few  words.  Ever  since  the  time  of  St.  Leo,  objects 
our  author,*  "  who  was  sitting  in  the  year  450,  to  that  of  St. 
Gregory  the  Great,  the  Bishops  of  Rome  have  labored  to  arro- 
gate to  themselves  a  superiority  over  the  universal  church :" 
but  was  it  St.  Leo  that  began  1  He  dares  not  say  it ;  all  he  says 
is,  "  he  labored  at  it,"  for  he  knows  full  well  that  St.  Celestin 
his  predecessor,  and  St.  Boniface,  and  St.  Zozimus,  and  St. 
Innocent,  to  go  no  further  back  at  present,  acted  no  otherwise 
than  St.  Leo  ;  nor  were  they  less  zealous  in  maintaining  the 
authority  of  St.  Peter's  chair.  Why  should  they  not,  then,  be 
of  the  number,  at  least,  of  these  "  Antichrists  commenced." 
The  reason  is,  because,  had  he  b'egun  from  their  time,  the  twelve 
hundred  and  threescore  years  would  have  elapsed  already,  and 
the  event  would  have  behed  the  sense  he  is  resolved  to  give 
the  Revelations.  Thus  do  men  impose  on  the  world,  and  turn 
the  divine  oracles  to  their  own  fancy. 

23. —  St.  Leo's  idolatry. — The  Mauzzims  of  Daniel  applied  to  the  Saints. 

But  it  is  time  we  should  come  to  the  third  character  of  the 
beast,  which  our  adversaries  are  determined  to  find  in  St.  Leo, 
and  in  the  whole  church  of  his  time.  There  is  a  new  Paganism, 
an  idolatry  worse  than  that  of  the  Gentiles,  in  the  honor  paid 
to  saints  and  their  relics.  It  is  on  this  third  character  the  chief 
stre£3  is  laid  :  Joseph  Mede|  has  the  honor  of  this  invention, 
who  interpreting  these  words  of  Daniel,  "  he  shall  honor  the 
God  Mauzzim,"  to  wit,  as  he  translates  it,  "  the  God  of  forces ;" 
and  again,  "  he  shall  do  it  to  fence  Mauzzim  with  a  strange 
God  ;"  understands  this  of  Antichrist,  who  shall  call  the  saints 
his  fortresses. 

24. — St.  Basil  and  the  rest  of  the  Saiyits  of  those  times  accused  of  the  same 

Idolatry. 

But  how  can  he  find  !hat  Antichrist  will  give  the  saints  this 
name  1  "  In  this,"  says  he,  "  that  St.  Basil  has  preached  to  all 
his  people,  or  rather  to  the  whole  universe,  who  have  read  and 
approved  his  divine  sermons,  that  the  forty  martyrs,  whose  relics 
they  possessed,  'were  towers  whereby  the  city  was  defended.' "J 
St.  Chrysostom§  has  also  said,  "  that  the  relics  of  St.  Peter  and 
Paul  were  more  secure  towers  for  Rome  than  ten  thousand 

*  Ace.  des  Proph.  part  ii.  ch.  ii.  p.  41.  f  Expos,  of  Dan.  ch.  xi.  n.  36,  &c. 
Book  iii.  ch.  xvi:  xvii.  p.  666,  et.  seq.  Dan.  xi.  38,  39.  J  Ibid.  ch.  xvii.  p.  673. 
Bas.  Orat.  in  40.  Mart.  Id.  in  Maur.  Mart.         §  Chrys.  Horn.  32.  ad  Rom. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  179 

ramparts."  "  Is  not  this,"  concludes  Mede,  "  raising  up  the 
gods  Mauzzims?"  St.  Basil  and  St.  Chrysostom  are  the  Anti- 
christs who  erect  these  fortresses  against  the  true  God. 
25. — Other  Saints  likewise  Idolaters. 

Yet  not  they  alone  :  the  poet  Fortunatus  hath  sung  after  St. 
Chrysostom,  "  that  Rome  had  two  ramparts  and  two  towers  in 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul."  St.  Gregory  has  said  as  much  of  them. 
St.  Chrysostom,  "  that  the  holy  martyrs  of  Egypt  protect  us  like 
impregnable  ramparts,  like  unshaken  rocks,  against  our  invisible 
enemies."  And  Mede  still  replies,  "  are  not  these  Mauzziiis^" 
he  adds,  "  that  St.  Hilary  discovers  likewise  our  bulwarks  in  the 
angels,"*  He  cites  St.  Gregory,  of  Nyssa,  brother  to  St.  Basil, 
Gennadius,  Evagrius,  St.  Eucherius,  Theodoret,  and  the  prayers 
of  the  Greeks,  in  proof  of  the  same.  He  does  not  forget  that 
the  Cross  is  called  our  defence,  and  that  our  common  expression 
is,  "  we  fortify  ourselves  with  the  sign  of  the  Cross ;"  JVfunire 
se  signo  Crucis:'\  the  Cross  comes  in  amongst  the  rest,  and  this 
sacred  symbol  of  our  salvation  must  also  be  ranked  amongst  the 
Mauzzims  of  Antichrist. 

26. — St.  Ambrose  added  to  the  rest  by  M.  Jurieu. 

M.  Jurieu  sets  ofi'all  these  fine  passages  of  Joseph  Mede  to 
the  best  advantage  ;  J  and  not  to  be  a  mere  transcriber,  adds  to 
them  St.  Ambrose,  who  says,  "  the  saints  Gervase  and  Protase 
were  tlie  tutelary  angels  of  the  city  of  Milan."  He  might  also 
have  named  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  St.  Austin,  and,  in  short, 
all  the  Fathers  who  abound  in  as  strong  expressions.  All  this 
is  making  as  many  gods  of  the  saints,  because  it  is  making  of 
them  ramparts  and  rocks  where  is  found  a  secure  sanctuary, 
names  which  the  Scripture  appropriates  to  God. 

27. — The  Ministers  cannot  believe  what  they  say  themselves. 

These  men  know  well  in  their  own  consciences,  that  the 
Fathers,  whom  they  quote,  never  understood  it  so  :  but  meant 
only  to  say,  that  God  gives  us  in  the  saints,  as  heretofove  he 
did  in  Moses,  in  David,  and  in  Jeremiah,  invincible  protectors, 
whose  acceptable  prayers  are  a  more  secure  defence  to  us  than 
a  thousand  ramparts :  for  he  is  able  to  make  of  his  saints,  when 
he  pleases,  and  in  the  manner  that  he  pleases,  "  impregnable 
fortresses,  iron  pillars,  and  brazen  walls. "§  Our  doctors,  I  say 
again,  are  convinced  in  their  hearts  that  is  the  sense  of  St. 
Chrysostom  and  St.  Basil,  when  they  call  the  saints  towers  and 
fortresses.  From  tliese  examples  they  ought  to  learn,  not  to 
take  in  a  criminal  sense  other  as  strong  expressions,  and  withal 
as  innocent  as  these  ;   at  least  not  to  carry  impiety  so  far  as  to 

*  Chxys.  Horn.  32  ad  Rom.  p.  673.  Horn.  70.  ad  Pop.  Ant.  Orat.  in  40. 
Mart  t  Ibid.  p.  678.  |  Ace.  des  Froph.  part  i.  ch.  xiv.  pp.  248,  249,  et 
seq.     lb.  p.  235.  Mede  ubi  sub.  ch.  xiv.  §  Jer.  i.  18. 


180  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

make  these  holy  doctors  the  founders  of  Antichristian  idolatry, 
this  being  a  charge  equally  atrocious  on  the  whole  Church  of 
their  times,  whose  doctrine  and  worship  they  did  but  propound. 
Nor,  indeed,  ought  we  to  imagine  our  ministers  believed  seri- 
ously what  they  said,  and  judged  so  many  saints  no  better  than 
blasphemers  and  idolaters.  All  that  we  can  conclude  from 
thence  is,  that  they  suffer  themselves  to  be  transported  beyond 
all  bounds,  and  without  enlightening  the  understanding,  seek 
only  to  kindle  hatred  in  the  heart. 

2S. — Why  they  do  not  make  St.  Basil  the  hegiiining  of  Antichristianism  as  well 

as  St.  Leo. 

But  after  all,  if  we  must  hold  for  Antichrists  all  these  pre- 
tended worshippers  of  Mauzzims,  why  do  they  defer  to  St.  Leo's 
time  the  beginning  of  the  Antichristian  empire  '?*  Let  them 
show  me  that  in  this  Pope's  days  more  was  done  for  the  saints 
than  acknowledging  them  for  towers  and  impregnable  fortresses? 
Let  them  show  me  that  more  trust  was  put  in  their  prayers, 
more  honor  paid  to  their  rehcs  1  You  say  that  in  360,  and  390, 
the  worship  of  creatures,  that  is,  in  your  notion,  that  of  the 
saints,  was  not  as  yet  estabhshed  in  the  public  service  :  show 
me  that  it  was  more  or  less  so  in  St.  Leo's  time  1  You  say,  in 
the  same  year  of  360,  and  390,  great  precautions  were  taken 
not  to  confound  the  service  of  God  with  the  service  of  creatures 
then  commencing  :  show  me  that  less  was  taken  afterwards,  and 
especially  in  St.  Leo's  Pontificate  ?  But  who  ever  could  have 
confounded  things  so  well  distinguished  1  We  demand  things 
of  God  ;  we  demand  prayers  of  the  saints  :  who  ever  dreamed 
of  asking  either  prayers  of  God,  or  the  things  themselves  of  the 
saints  as  of  those  that  gave  them  1  Show,  then,  that  in  St.  Leo's 
time  these  characters  so  distinct  were  confounded,  the  service 
of  God,  with  the  honor  given  to  his  servants  for  love  of  him  1 
you  never  will  undertake  it.  Why,  therefore,  stop  in  so  fair  a 
way?  dare  to  utter  what  you  think.  Begin  by  St.  Basil,  and 
St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  in  the  reign  of  Antichristian  idol- 
atry, and  the  blasphemies  of  the  beast  against  the  Eternal,  and 
against  all  that  dwells  in  heaven  :  turn  into  blasphemies  against 
God  and  against  the  saints,  what  has  been  said  ever  since  that 
time  of  the  glory  God  imparted  to  his  servants  in  the  Church  : 
St.  Basil  is  no  better  than  St.  Leo  ;  nor  the  Church  more  priv- 
ileged at  the  end  of  the  fourth  age,  than  fifty  years  after  the 
middle  of  the  fifth.  But  I  see  the  answer  you  make  me  in  your 
heart,  viz.,  that  should  you  begin  by  St.  I5asil,  all  would  have 
been  completed  long  ago ;  and  thus  behed  by  the  event,  you 
could  no  longer  amuse  the  people  with  vain  hopes. 

*  Ace  part  ii.  p.  23. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  181 

29. — Ridiculous  Calculations. 
Accordingly,  our  author  owns*  you  might  begin  his  whole 
calculation  from  four  different  epochs  :  viz.,  360,  393,  430,  and 
in  fine,  450,  or  455,  which  is  the  calculation  he  himself  follows. 
All  these  four  accounts,  according  to  him,  agree  admirably  with 
the  system  of  the  new  idolatry  rf  but  unluckily  in  the  two  first 
reckonings,  where  all  things  else,  as  he  pretends,  agree  so  well, 
the  chief  poinl  is  wanting  ;  to  wit,  that  according  to  these  com- 
putations the  Popish  empire  should  have  fallen  in  1620,  or  in 
1653.  Now  it  still  exists  and  enjoys  a  small  respite.  As  to 
the  third  calculation,  it  terminates  in  1690,  four  or  five  years 
hence,  says  our  author  :  it  would  be  too  much  exposing  himself 
to  taJie  so  short  a  term.  Yet  every  concurrence  tallied  with  it 
to  admiration.  See  what  these  concurrences  are  which  they 
build  so  much  on,  mere  dreams,  visions,  manifest  illusions, 
proved  notoriously  such  by  the  event. 

30. —  Why  St.  BasiPs  Idolatry  and  that  of  the  other  Fathers  is  not  accounted 

Antichrisiian. 

"  But,"  says  our  author,  "  the  chief  reason  why  God  will  not 
compute  the  birth  of  Antichristianism  from  these  years,  360, 
393,  and  430,  notwithstanding  that  the  new  idolatry,"  which  he 
will  have  to  be  the  character  of  Antichristianism,  "  was  then 
established,  is,  that  there  was  a  fourth  characteristic  of  the  birth 
of  this  Antichristian  empire  which  had  not  as  yet  appeared  ; 
namely,  that  the  Roman  empire  was  to  be  destroyed  ;  that  there 
were  to  be  seven  Kings,  to  wit,  according  to  all  the  Prot- 
estants, seven  forms  of  government  in  the  city  on  seven  moun- 
tains, meaning  Rome. "J  The  Papal  empire  was  to  make  the 
seventh  government,  and  it  was  requisite  the  six  others  should 
be  destroyed  to  make  room  for  the  seventh,  which  was  that  of 
the  Pope  and  Antichrist.  When  Rome  ceased  to  be  mistress, 
and  the  Antichristian  empire  was  to  commence,  it  was  necessary 
there  should  be  ten  kings,  wliich  were  to  receive  the  sovereign 
power  at  the  same  time  with  the  beast  ;§  and  ten  kingdoms, 
"  into  which  the  Roman  empire  was  to  be  subdivided,"  accord- 
ing to  the  oracle  of  the  Revelations.  All  this  was  fulfilled  in 
the  nick  of  time  under  St.  Leo  :  this,  therefore,  is  the  precise 
time  of  the  birth  of  Antichrist,  and  there  is  no  resisting  the  con- 
currence of  such  circumstances. 

31. — Infinite  absurdity. 

Admirable  doctrine  !  neither  these  ten  kings,  nor  the  dismem- 
bering of  the  empire,  entered  into  the  constitution  of  Antichrist, 
nor  at  farthest  could  this  be  any  thing  else  than  an  exterior  token 
of  his  birth ;  what  truly  constitutes  him,  is  the  corruption  of 

*  Ace.  part.  ii.  p.  20,  &c.  t  Ibid.  p.  22. 

X  Ace.  part  ii.  p.  33.     Rev.  xvii.  9.  §  Rev.  xvii.  12. 

VOL.  II.  16 


182  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

manners,  is  the  pretention  to  superiority,  is  principally  the  new 
idolatry.  All  this  is  no  more  to  be  fomid  under  St.  Leo,  than 
fourscore  or  a  hundred  years  before ;  but  God  would  not,  as 
yet,  impute  it  for  Antichristianism,  nor  did  it  please  him  that  the 
new  idolatry,  though  already  entirely  formed,  should  be  Anti- 
christian.  It  is  impossible,  in  fine,  that  such  extravagances, 
where  impiety  and  absurdity  strive  together  which  shall  exceed, 
should  not  open  the  eyes  of  our  brethren,  and,  at  length,  put  them 
out  of  conceit  with  those  who  delude  them  with  such  dreams. 

32. — The  system  of  the  Ministers  concerning  the  seven  Kings  of  the  Revelations 
evidently  confounded  by  the  very  words  of  this  prophesy. 

But  let  us  enter  into  the  particulars  of  these  fine  concur- 
rences so  dazzling  to  our  Reformed,  and  begin  with  the  seven 
Kings,  who,  according  to  St.  John,  are  the  seven  heads  of  the 
beast,  and  with  these  ten  horns,  which,  according  to  the  same 
St.  John,  are  ten  other  kings.  The  sense,  say  they,  is  manifest. 
"  The  seven  heads,"  says  St.  John,  "  are  the  seven  mountains 
on  which  the  woman  sitteth,  and  these  are  seven  kings :  five 
are  fallen  ;  one  is,  and  the  other  is  not  yet  come  ;  and  when  he 
Cometh  he  must  continue  a  short  space  ;  and  the  beast  that  was 
and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth  Idng,  and  one  of  the  seven,  and 
goeth  into  destruction."*  The  seven  kings  are,  says  our  au- 
thor,! ^^'^®  seven  forms  of  government  Rome  had  been  subject 
to  ;  the  kings,  the  consuls,  the  dictators,  the  decemvirs,  the  mil- 
itary tribunes,  who  had  consular  power,  the  emperors,  and  finally 
the  Pope.  Five  are  fallen,  says  St.  John  :  five  of  these  gov- 
ernments had  expired  when  he  wrote  his  prophesy  :  one  is  still ; 
the  empire  of  the  Caesars  under  which  he  wrote  :  and  the  other 
must  come  soon  ;  who  does  not  espy  the  Papal  empire  1  It  is 
one  of  the  seven  kings  :  one  of  the  seven  forms  of  government, 
and  it  is  also  the  eighth  king,  namely,  the  eighth  form  of  gov- 
ernment :  the  seventh,  because  the  Pope  much  resembles  em- 
perors by  the  dominion  which  he  exercises ;  and  the  eighth, 
because  he  has  something  peculiar,  his  spiritual  empire,  his  do- 
minion over  consciences  ;  all  mighty  just,  but  for  one  little  word 
that  mars  the  whole.  In  the  first  place,  1  would  fain  ask,  why 
the  seven  kings  are  seven  forms  of  government,  and  not  seven 
real  kings.  Let  them  show  me  in  Scripture,  that  the  forms  of 
government  are  named  kings  ;  on  the  contrary,  three  verses 
after,  I  see  that  the  ten  king  are  ten  real  kings,  and  not  ten  sorts 
of  government.  Why  should  these  seven  kings  of  verse  the 
ninth,  be  so  different  from  the  ten  kings  of  verse  the  twelfth  ? 
Does  he  pretend  to  make  us  believe  that  the  consuls,  annual 
magistrates,  are  kings  1  that  the  entire  extirpation  of  the  regal 
power  of  Rome  is  one  of  the  seven  kings  of  Rome  1  tliat  ten 
*  Rev.  xvii.  3,  9,  12.     lb.  9,  10,  11.  f  Ace.  part  i.  p.  11. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  183 

men,  the  decemviri,  are  one  king  ;  and  the  whole  series  of  four 
or  six  military  tribunes,  more  or  less,  another  king  1  But  in 
good  truth,  is  that  another  form  of  government  ?  who  is  ignorant 
that  the  mihtary  tribunes  differed  not  from  consuls,  except  in  the 
number?  for  which  reason  they  were  called  Tribuni  militum 
Consulari  pofestate  ;  and  if  St.  John  had  a  mind  to  denote  all 
the  names  of  the  supreme  power  among  the  Romans,  why  did 
he  forget  the  Triumviri  ?  had  they  not,  at  least,  as  much  power 
as  the  Decemviri  ?  And  should  it  be  said,  it  was  too  short  to 
deserve  notice,  why  should  that  of  the  Decemvm,  which  held 
but  two  years,  deserve  it  more  1  This  is  true,  they  may  reply  : 
let  us  put  them  in  lieu  of  the  Dictators,  for  there  is  little  like- 
lihood the  Dictatorship  could  ever  be  called  a  form  of  govern- 
ment under  which  Rome  continued  for  a  certain  time.  It  was 
an  extraordinary  magistracy,  set  up  according  to  the  exigency 
of  present  circumstances  in  all  times  of  the  republic,  not  a  par- 
ticular form  of  government.  Let  us  remove  them  then,  and  put 
the  Triumviri  in  their  stead.  I  consent  to  it,  and  even  willingly 
give  to  the  interpretation  of  Protestants  the  best  appearance  it 
is  capable  of:  for  when  all  is  said,  there  is  nothing  in  it  but 
illusion  ;  one  little  word,  as  I  said,  will  subvert  the  whole  fabric  ; 
for  in  short,  we  read  of  the  seventh  king,  (who  shall  be,  since 
they  will  have  it,  the  seventh  government,)  that,  "  when  he 
cometh,  he  must  continue  a  short  space."*  St.  John  has  but 
just  shown  him  ;  and  immediately,  says  he,  "  he  goeth  into  de- 
struction." If  this  be  the  Papal  empire,  it  must  needs  be  short. 
Now  it  is  pretended  from  St.  John,  that  it  must  continue  at  least 
one  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  years,  as  long  a  time, 
as  is  owned  by  our  new  interpreter,  "  as  all  the  other  govern- 
ments together."!  Wherefore  it  is  impossible  the  Papal  empire 
should  be  meant  by  this  prophesy. 

33. — Trifling  reply. 
But  replies  our  author,  "  one  day,"  as  says  St.  Peter,J  "  is 
with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years."  A  fine  discovery !  all  equally 
is  short  to  the  eyes  of  God,  and  not  only  the  reign  of  the  seventh 
king,  but  also  the  reign  of  all  the  rest.  Now  St.  John  would 
distinguish  this  seventh  king  by  comparing  him  with  the  other 
kings,  and  his  reign  was  to  be  remarkable  by  the  shortness  of 
its  continuance.  To  show  this  characteristic  in  the  Papal  gov- 
ernment, who  does  not  see  that  its  being  short  in  the  sight  of 
God,  with  whom  nothing  is  durable,  is  not  sufficient  ?  It  ought 
to  be  short  in  comparison  with  the  other  governments ;  more 
short  by  consequence  than  that  of  the  military  Tribunes,  which 
scarcely  subsisted  thirty  or  forty  years  ;  more  short  than  that  of 
the  Decemviri,  which  continued  but  two ;  more  short  at  least 
*  Rev.  xvii.  10.  f  Ace.  part  i.  p.  11.  J  2  Pet.  iii.  8. 


184  THE  HISTORY  OF  [BOOK 

than  that  of  the  kings,  or  consuls,  or  emperors,  who  filled  up  the 
greatest  space  of  time  in  duration.  But  on  the  contrary,  that 
Avhich  St.  John  has  distinguished  by  the  brevity  of  its  duration, 
does  not  only  hold  out  longer  than  any  of  the  rest,  but  also  longer 
than  all  the  rest  together  :  what  more  manifest  absurdity !  and 
is  it  not  an  attempt  to  make  the  prophecies  ridiculous,  thus  to 
interpret  them  1 

34.— TAe  Ten  Kings  of  the  Revelations  manifestly  as  ill  interpreted. 
But  let  us  say  one  word  of  the  ten  kings  whom  our  interpreter, 
after  Joseph  Mede,  believes  he  triumphs  in.  There  it  is  he 
ranges  before  us'^ — first,  the  Britons  ;  second,  the  Saxons ; 
third,  the  French  ;  fourth,  the  Burgundians  ;  fifth,  the  Visigoths ; 
sixth,  the  Suevi  and  Alani ;  seventh,  the  Yandals  ;  eighth,  the 
Germans ;  ninth,  the  Ostrogoihs  in  Italy,  where  the  Lombards 
succeed  them  ;  tenth,  the  Grecians.  Here  are  fully  ten  king- 
doms v/hich  the  Roman  empire  was  divided  into  at  its  fall. 
IVithout  disputing  on  the  qualities,  without  disputing  on  the 
number,  without  disputing  on  the  dates,  this  at  least  is  very  cer- 
tain— viz.  that  as  soon  as  ever  these  ten  kings  appear,  St.  John 
makes  them  "give  their  power  and  strength  unto  the  Beast.""]" 
We  own  as  much,  say  our  interpreters  ;J  and  it  is  hkewise  the 
very  thing  that  gains  our  cause  ;  for  these  are  "  the  ten  vassal 
and  subject  kings  which  the  Antichristian  empire,  namely,  the 
Pontifical,  hath  always  had  in  subjection  to  worship  it,  and  main- 
tain its  power."  Here  is  a  wonderful  tallying  of  incidents  ;  but 
what,  I  pray,  have  the  Arian  kings  contributed  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Papal  empire,  such  as  the  Visigoths  and  the  Ostro- 
goths, the  Burgundians  and  the  Vandals  ;  or  the  Heathen  kings, 
such  as  at  that  time  were  the  French  and  Saxons  1  Are  these 
the  ten  vassal  kings  of  the  Papacy,  who  had  nothing  else  to  do 
but  worship  it  1  But  when  v.as  it  that  these  Vandals  and  Os- 
trogoths worshipped  the  Popes  ?  Was  it  under  Theodoric  and 
his  successors,  when  the  Popes  groaned  under  their  tyranny  1 
or  under  Genseric,  when  with  the  Vandals,  he  pillaged  Rome 
and  carried  the  spoils  of  it  into  Africa  ?  And  since  even  the 
Lombards  are  introduced,  were  they  also  of  the  number  that 
aggrandized  the  Church  of  Rome,  they  that  did  all  in  tlieir  power 
to  oppress  her  as  long  as  ever  they  subsisted,  namely,  for  two 
hundred  years  ?  For  what  else  were,  during  this  whole  space 
of  time  the  Alboini,  the  Astolphi,  and  the  Didiers,  but  enemies 
to  Rome,  and  the  Church  of  Rome  1  And  the  Emperors  of  the 
East,  who  were  in  reality  the  Emperors  of  Ptome,  though  ranged 
here  the  last  under  the  name  of  Greeks,  must  they  also  be 
reckoned  amongst  the  vassals  and  subjects  of  the  Pope,  they 

*  Pre),  legit,  part  i.  ch.  vii.  p.  126.    Ace.  des  Proph.  part  ii.  pp.  27,  28. 
t  Rev.  xvii.  13.  X  Ace.  part  i.  ch.  xv.  p.  266. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  185 

whom  St.  Leo  and  his  successors,  down  to  the  time  of  Charle- 
magne, acknowledged  for  their  sovereigns  1  But,  you  will  say, 
these  Heathen  and  heretical  kings  embraced  the  true  faith. 
Right ;  they  embraced  it  a  long  while  after  this  division  into  ten 
kingdoms.  The  French  had  four  Heathen  kings  :  the  Saxons 
were  not  converted  till  the  time  of  St.  Gregory,  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  after  this  division  ;  the  Goths,  who  reigned  in  Spain, 
were  converted  from  Arianism  at  the  same  time.  AYhat  has  this 
to  do  with  these  kings,  who,  according  to  the  pretension  of  our 
interpreters,  were  to  begin  to  reign  at  the  same  time  with  the 
Beast,  and  give  up  their  power  to  him  ?  Besides,  can  no  other 
era  be  found  for  the  entrance  of  these  kings  into  the  Antichiis- 
tian  empire,  but  that  of  their  turning  Christians  or  Catholics  t 
y»  hat  a  happy  destiny  for  this  pretended  Antichristian  empire, 
to  be  compounded  of  people  converted  to  Jesus  Christ !  But 
what  is  it,  after  all,  that  these  kings,  so  happily  converted,  have 
contributed  to  the  establishment  of  the  Pope's  authority?  If,  at 
their  admittance  into  the  Church  they  acknowledged  the  First 
See,  which  was  that  of  Rome,  neither  did  they  give  him  that 
supremacy  which  he  had  undoubtedly  before  their  conversion, 
nor  did  they  acknowledge,  in  the  Pope,  any  thing  more  than 
Christians  had  acknowledged  in  him  before  them,  to  wit,  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter.  Nor  did  the  Popes,  on  their  side,  ex- 
ercise their  authority  over  these  people  otherwise  than  by  teach- 
ing them  the  true  faith,  and  upholding  regularity  and  discipline 
among  them  :  nor  can  any  man  show,  during  this  time,  or  four 
hundred  years  after,  that  they  concerned  themselves  with  any 
thing  else,  or  enterprised  any  thing  on  temporals.  Thus  you 
see  what  were  these  ten  kings,  with  whom  the  Papal  empire  was 
to  commence. 

35. — Vain  reply. 

But  then,  we  are  told,*  came  other  ten  in  their  place,  and 
these  are  they  with  their  kingdoms  :  first,  Germany ;  second, 
Hungary  ;  third,  Poland  ;  fourth,  Sweden  ;  fifth,  France  ;  sixth, 
England;  seventh,  Spain;  eighth,  Portugal ;  ninth,  Italy;  tenth, 
Scotland.  Expound  who  can  why  Scotland  stands  here  rather 
than  Bohemia ;  why  Sweden  rather  than  Denmark  or  Norway; 
why,  in  fine,  Portugal,  as  separated  from  Spain,  rather  than 
Castile,  Arragon,  Leon,  Navarre,  and  the  other  kingdoms  ?  But 
why  do  we  lose  our  time  in  examining  these  fancies  ]  Let  them 
resolve  me  at  least  this  question,  whether  or  no  these  were  the 
ten  kingdoms  that  were  to  be  formed  out  of  the  rem.nants  of  the 
Roman  empire  at  the  same  time  that  Antichrist  was  to  appear, 
and  which  were  to  resign  their  authority  and  power  to  him  ] 
What  has  Poland  to  do  here,  and  the  other  kingdoms  of  the 
*  Prej.  part  i.  ch.  vi.  p.  105. 

VOL.    II.  16  * 


186  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

North,  whicli  Rome  was  not  acquainted  with,  and  which,  beyond 
question,  were  not  formed  of  her  ruins  when  the  Antichrist,  St. 
Leo,  came  into  the  world  ?  Is  it  in  banter  that  men  write,  with 
so  serious  an  air,  such  ridiculous  conceits  ?  In  good  truth,  it 
ill  becomes  those  who_  have  nothing  in  their  mouths  but  the  pure 
word  of  God,  thus  rashly  to  sport  with  its  oracles  :  and  if  they 
have  nothing  more  pertinent  whereby  to  explain  the  prophecies, 
it  v/ere  much  better  to  adore  their  sacred  obscurity,  and  respect 
the  future,  which  God  has  reserved  in  his  own  hands. 
36. — Contrarieties  of  the  new  Interpreters. 
We  must  not  wonder  to  see  these  daring  interpreters  at  va- 
riance among  themselves,  and  destroying  one  another.  Joseph 
Mede,  on  that  verse  of  St.  John,  importing  that  in  a  great  earth- 
quake "  the  tenth  part  of  the  city  fell,"*  thought  he  had  hit  ex- 
actly, when  he  interpreted  this  tenth  part  with  respect  to  the  new 
Antichristian  Rome,  which  is  ten  times  less  than  ancient  Rome. 
To  come  at  the  proof  of  his  interpretation,  he  seriously  com- 
pares the  area  of  old  Rome  with  that  of  the  new,  and  with  a  fine 
figure  demonstrates  that  the  first  is  ten  times  greater  than  the 
last :  but  his  disciple,  M.  Jurieu,  deprives  him  of  so  mathematical 
an  interpretation.  "  He  is  mistaken  with  all  the  rest,"  cries 
out  haughtily  the  new  prophet,^  "  when  by  the  city  St.  John 
speaks  of,  he  understands  only  the  city  of  Rome."  "  We  ought 
to  hold  for  certain,"  proceeds  he  in  a  masterly  strain,  "  that  the 
great  city  is  Rome  with  its  empire. "J  And  the  tenth  part  of  the 
city,  what  shall  it  be  1  He  has  found  it  out :  "  France,"  says 
he,  "is  the  tenth  part."§  But  how?  shall  France  fall?  and 
does  this  prophet  forebode  so  ill  of  his  own  country  1  No,  no, 
she  may  be  reduced  indeed  to  a  tottering  condition  ;  let  her  look 
to  it,  the  prophet  threatens  her  :  yet  shall  not  perish.  What  the 
Holy  Ghost  here  means  by  saying  she  shall  fall,  is,  "  that  she 
shall  fall  with  respect  to  Popery  ;"||  but  then  she  shall  rise  more 
illustrious  than  ever,  because  she  shall  embrace  the  Reformation, 
and  that  speedily  ;  and  our  kings  (a  thing  I  am  loth  to  repeat) 
are  on  the  point  of  being  Calvinistically  reformed.  What  pa- 
tience is  able  to  support  these  interpretations  1  But  afler  all,  he 
is  more  in  the  right  than  he  imagined,  by  calling  this  a  "  fall :" 
dreadful  indeed  would  be  the  "fall"  into  a  "reformation," 
v/herein  the  spirit  of  illusion  so  forcibly  predominates. 

37. — The  Englishman  finds  England,  and  the  Frenchman  Finance,  in  the  Reve- 
lations. 

If  the  French  interpreter  finds  France  in  the  Revelations,  the 
Englishman  finds  England  in  them  :  the  phial  poured  out  upon 
the  rivers  and  fountains  of  waters,  "  are  the  Pope's  emissaries, 

*  Rev.  xi.  13.    Med.  comni.  in  apoc.  part  ii.  p.  489. 
t  Ace.  p.  ii.  ch.  xi.  p.  194.      J  Ibid.  pp.  200,  203.      §  lb.  201.       ||  Ibid. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  187 

and  the  Spaniards  vanquished  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  of 
glorious  memory."  But  good  Mr.  Mede,*  it  seems,  was  in  a 
gross  mistake  :  his  more  enlightened  disciple  assures  us,!  the 
second  and  third  phial  "  were  the  crusades,  when  God  returned 
blood  upon  Catholics  for  the  blood  of  the  Vaudois  and  Albigenses 
spilt  by  them."  These  Vaudois  and  Albigenses,  John  Wickliff 
and  John  Huss,  with  all  the  rest  of  that  gang,  even  to  the  bloody 
Taborites,  appear  throughout  these  new  interpretations  as  faithful 
witnesses  of  the  truth  persecuted  by  the  Beast ;  but  they  are  now 
well  known,  and  even  this  were  enough  to  prove  the  falsity  of 
these  pretended  prophecies. 

38. — The  King  of  Siveden  f (/retold,  and  the  prediction  falsified  immediately  after. 
Joseph  Mede  had  outdone  himself  in  his  exposition  of  the 
fourth  phiat.  He  saw  it  "  poured  out  upon  the  sun,  upon  the 
chief  part  of  the  heaven  possessed  by  the  Beast,"  J — namely,  the 
Papal  empire :  the  meaning  whereof  was,  that  the  Pope  was 
going  to  lose  the  empire  of  Germany,  which  is  his  sun  :  nothing 
more  clear.  Whilst  Mede,  if  you  will  believe  him,  was  printing 
these  things,  "  which  he  had  meditated  on  long  before,"^  he 
heard  of  the  wonderful  achievements  "  of  that  pious,  happy,  and 
victorious  king,  whom  God  had  sent  from  the  North  to  defend 
his  cause  :"  in  a  word,  it  was  the  great  Gustavus.  Mede  can 
no  longer  doubt  but  his  conjecture  was  an  inspiration  ;  and  ap- 
])lies  to  this  great  king  the  same  canticle  that  David  apphed  to 
the  Messiah  :  "  Gird  thy  sword  upon  thy  thigh,  0  most  mighty 
King !  combat  for  the  truth,  and  for  justice,  proceed  prosper- 
ously and  reign."  11  But  the  event  belied  the  prediction;  so 
Mede  published  at  once  his  prophecy  and  shame. 

39. — Ridicidous  conceit  about  the  Turks. 
No  less  remarkable  is  that  fine  passage,  where,  whilst  Mede 
is  contemplating  the  overthrow  of  the  Turkish  empire,  his  dis- 
ciple, on  the  contrary,  spies  in  it  the  victories  gained  by  that 
empire.  The  Euphrates  in  the  Revelations, IT  is  to  Mede"^*  the 
empire  of  the  Turks  ;  and  the  waters  of  the  Euphrates  dried  up 
at  the  effusion  of  the  sixth  phial,  is  the  Turkish  empire  destroyed. 
He  is  quite  in  the  dark  :  M.  Jurieu||  demonstrates  to  us  that 
the  Euphrates  is  the  Archipelago  and  the  Bosphorus,  which  the 
Turks  passed  in  1390,  in  order  to  possess  themselves  of  Greece 
and  Constantinople.  More  than  this  :  JJ  "  there  is  great  likeli- 
hood that  the  conquests  of  the  Turks  are  carried  on  thus  far  in 
order  to  give  them  the  means  of  contributing,  together  with  Pro- 
testants, to  the  great  work  of  God, — namely,  to  the  destruction 

*  Med.  comm.  Apo.  p.  528.  ad  Phial.  Ap.  iii.  p.  16.  f  Ace.  des  Proph. 

part  ii.  ch.  iv.  p.  72.  Prej.  legit,  part  i.  ch.  v.  pp.  98,  99.  |  Com.  Ap.  p.  528. 
kev.xvi.  S.  §  Ibid.  p.  529.  j|  Psalm  xiiv.       '      H  Rev.  xvi.  12. 

**  Jos.  Mede,  ad  Ph,  vi.  p.  529.     ft  Ace.  partii.  ch.  vii.  p.  99.     | J  Ibid.  p.  101. 


188  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

of  the  Papal  empire  :  for  though  the  Turks  have  never  been  so 
low  as  at  present"  (this  is  the  very  thing  that  makes  our  author 
believe  they  will  soon  rise  again,)  "  T  look  upon,"  says  he,  "  this 
year  1685,  as  critical  in  this  affair.  God  hath  humbled  the 
Reformed  and  the  Turks  at  the  same  time,  to  raise  them  up  again 
at  the  same  time,  and  in  order  to  make  them  the  instruments  of 
his  revenge  against  the  Popish  empire."  Who  would  not  admire 
this  sympathy  of  Turkism  with  the  Reformation,  and  this  com- 
mon destiny  of  them  both  1  Should  the  Turks  prove  successful, 
then  will  the  Reformed  (whilst  the  rest  of  Christians  grieve  at 
their  victories)  raise  up  their  heads,  and  believe  that  the  time  of 
their  deliverance  is  at  hand.  We  were  strangers  as  yet  to  this 
new  excellency  of  the  Reformation — of  its  being  to  increase  and 
decrease  as  it  were  by  sympathy  with  the  Turks.  Our  author 
himself  was  puzzled  at  this  place  when  he  composed  his  allow- 
able "  Prepossessions,"  and  knew  nothing  of  the  plagues  of  the 
two  last  phials  wherein  this  mystery  was  locked  up  :  but  at  last, 
"after  knocking  two,  four,  five,"  and  "six  times,  with  a  religious 
attention,  the  door  flew  open,"*  and  he  beheld  this  mighty  secret. 
40. — Wluj  these  absurdities  are  tolerated  in  the  party. 

Men  of  sense,  you  will  tell  me,  among  the  Protestants,  laugh 
at  these  fooleries  as  well  as  we.  Yet  they  let  them  take  their 
run,  knowing  them  necessary  to  amuse  the  credulous  multitude. 
It  was  principally  by  these  visions  that  hatred  was  excited 
against  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  hopes  fomented  of  her  speedy 
overthrow.  The  same  artifice  is  employed  again  for  the  same 
purpose,  and  the  people,  a  hundred  times  deceived,  give  ear  to 
them,  as  the  Jews,  abandoned  to  the  spirit  of  error,  did  hereto- 
fore to  false  prophets.  Examples  are  quite  useless  to  disabuse 
a  people  possessed  with  prejudice.  They  believed  they  saw, 
in  the  prophecies  of  Luther,  the  expiration  of  the  Papacy  so 
near  at  hand,  that  there  was  not  a  Protestant  who  did  not  hope 
to  be  present  at  its  funeral.  It  was  necessary,  indeed,  to  pro- 
long the  time,  but  the  same  spirit  was  kept  up  still,  and  the 
Reformation  never  ceased  to  be  the  bubble  of  these  lying  pro- 
phets, who  prophesy  the  delusions  of  their  frantic  brain. 
41. — The  party's  Prophets  are  impostors. — Confession  of  the  Minister  Jurieu. 

God  forbid  I  should  lose  my  time  in  speaking  here  of  a  Cot- 
terus,  a  Drabicius,  a  Christiana,  a  Comenius,  and  all  those  other 
visionaries,  of  whose  predictions  our  minister  boasts,  and  whose 
errors  he  acknowledges.  None  of  them,  as  he  pretends,  no,  not 
even  the  learned  Usher,  but  must  turn  prophet.  But  the  same 
minister  frankly  owns  he  was  no  less  mistaken  than  the  rest. 
Experience  proved  them  all  deluded,  "  and  we  discover  in 
them,"  says  the  minister,|  "  so  many  things  in  which  they  blun- 
*  Ace.  part  ii.  ch.  vii.  p.  94.    j  Avis  a  tous  les  ch.,  at  the  beginning,  pp.  5, 67.  lb. 


XIII.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  189 

dered,  that  there  is  no  relying  on  them."  Yet  he  nevertheless 
accounts  them  prophets,  and  great  prophets,  Ezekiels  and  Jere- 
miahs. He  finds  "  in  their  visions  such  majesty  and  loftiness, 
that  those  of  the  ancient  prophets  have  not  more,  and  a  train  of 
miracles  as  great  as  ever  happened  since  the  apostles."*  Thus 
does  the  chief  of  our  Protestants  suffer  himself  to  be  imposed 
on  by  these  false  prophets,  even  after  the  event  had  confounded 
them  :  so  prevalent  is  the  spirit  of  illusion  in  the  party  ;  but  the 
true  prophets  of  the  Lord  deliver  themselves  in  another  strain 
against  such  impostors  as  abuse  the  name  of  God  :  "  Hear  thou, 
O  Hananiah,"  saith  Jeremiah,|  "  this  word  that  I  speak  in  thine 
ears,  and  in  the  ears  of  all  the  people.  The  prophets  that  have 
been  before  me,  and  before  thee  of  old,  and  have  prophesied 
good  or  evil  to  nations  and  to  kingdoms  ;  when  their  words 
came  to  pass,  it  was  known  that  they  were  prophets  whom  the 
Lord  had  truly  sent ;  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto 
Jeremiah,  saying.  Go  and  tell  Hananiah,  saying,  thus  saith  the 
Lord ;  thou  hast  broken  the  yokes  of  wood," — in  token  of  the 
people's  future  dehverance, — "  and  thou  shalt  make  for  them 
yokes  of  iron:  I  will  aggravate  the  yoke  of  those  nations"  to 
whom  thou  denouncest  peace.  "  Then  said  the  prophet  Jere- 
miah unto  Hananiah  the  prophet,  Hear  now,  Hananiah,  the 
Lord  hath  not  sent  thee,  but  thou  makest  this  people  to  trust  in 
a  lie ;  therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord,  Behold,  I  will  cast  thee 
from  off  the  face  of  the  earth  :  this  year  thou  shalt  die,  because 
thou  hast  spoken  against  the  Lord ;  and  Hananiah  the  prophet 
died  the  same  year,  in  the  seventh  month."  Thus  did  he  de- 
serve to  be  confounded  who  deceived  the  people  in  the  Lord's 
name,  and  the  people  needed  but  to  open  their  eyes  and  take 
warning. 

42. — Their  interpreters  no  better. 
Our  Reformed  interpreters  are  not  worth  more  than  our  Re- 
formed prophets.  The  Revelations  and  the  rest  of  the  Prophe- 
cies have  ever  been  the  subject  which  the  wits  of  the  Reformation 
have  thought  themselves  at  liberty  to  sport  with.  Each  one 
has  discovered  in  them  his  concun-ences,  whereby  the  credu- 
lous Protestants  were  always  caught.  M.  Jurieu  reproves  often, 
as  we  have  seen,  Joseph  Mede,  whom  he  had  chosen  for  his 
guide.  J  Nay,  he  has  pointed  out  the  errors  of  Du  Moulin,  his 
grandfather,§  whose  interpretations  on  the  prophecies  were  ad- 
mired by  the  whole  Reformation  ;  and  has  even  showed  "  that 
the  foundation  he  built  upon  was  destitute  of  fidelity."  Never- 
theless, there  was  abundance  of  wit,  and  a  very  extensive  eru- 
dition in  these  visions  of  Du  Moulin  ;  but  so  it  is,  the  more  wit 

*  Ace.  des  Proph.  part  ii.  p.  174.     Ibid.  t  Jer.  xxviii.  7,  et  seq. 

I  Jur.  Ace.  des  Proph,  part  i.  p.  71.  §  Part  ii.  p.  183. 


190  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

a  man  has,  the  more  he  deceives  himself  on  these  occasions  ; 
because,  the  more  wit  he  has,  the  more  he  invents,  and  ventures 
the  more.  Du  MouHn's  fine  wit,  which  must  needs  exercise 
itself  on  futurity,  set  him  on  a  task  for  which  he  was  laughed  at, 
even  in  his  own  family;  and  M.  Jurieu,  his  grandson,  who, 
perhaps,  shows  more  wit  than  the  rest  on  this  subject,  will  be 
but  the  more  certainly  the  laughter  of  mankind. 

43. — What  the  Ministers  have  discovered  in  the  Revelations  touching  their 

Reformers. 

I  am  ashamed  of  dwelling  so  long  on  visions  more  chimerical 
than  sick  men's  dreams.  But  I  ought  not  to  forget  what  is  of 
greatest  importance  in  this  vain  mystery  of  the  Protestants. 
According  to  the  idea  they  give  of  the  Revelations,  nothing 
should  be  more  distinctly  marked  in  them  than  the  Reformation 
itself,  with  its  authors,  who  came  to  destroy  the  empire  of  the 
Beast ;  and  especially  it  ought  to  be  marked  in  the  effusion  of 
the  "  seven  phials,"  in  which  are  foretold,  as  they  pretend,  the 
seven  plagues  of  their  Antichristian  empire.  But  what  our 
interpreters  descry  here,  is  so  ill  contrived,  that  one  destroys 
what  the  other  builds.  Joseph  Mede*  thinks  he  has  found  both 
Luther  and  Calvin  when  the  phial  is  poured  on  the  sea,  that  is 
on  the  Antichristian  world,  and  when  immediately  this  sea,  "  is 
changed  into  blood  like  to  that  of  a  dead  man."f  "  Here," 
says  he,  "  is  the  Reformation ;  it  is  a  poison  that  kills  every 
thing  :  for  then  every  living  soul  died  in  the  sea."  Mede  takes 
care  to  explain  this  blood  like  to  that  of  a  carcass,  and  says,  it 
is  as  the  blood  of  a  member  lopped  off,  on  account  "  of  the  pro- 
vinces and  kingdoms  which  were  then  rent  from  the  body  of  the 
papacy."J  This  is  an  ill-boding  spectacle  for  Protestants,  to 
see  the  reformed  nations  exhibited  to  them  in  no  other  view  than 
that  of  "lopped  members,"  which  have  lost,  according  to  Mede, 
"  all  connexion  with  the  fountain  of  life,  all  vital  spirit,  and  all 
warmth,"  without  telling  us  any  more  of  the  matter. 

44. — The  idea  of  the  JSIhiister  Jurieu. 

This  is  Mede's  idea  of  the  Reformation.  But  if  he  sees  it 
in  the  effusion  of  the  second  phial,  the  other  interpreter  sees  it 
only  in  the  effusion  of  the  seventh,  "  When  there  came,"  says 
St.  John,§  "  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  of  heaven,  from  the 
throne,  saying,  it  is  done.  And  there  were  voices,  and  thun- 
ders, and  lightnings  ;  and  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  such 
as  was  not  since  men  were  upon  the  earth ;"  there,  says  he,  is 
the  Reformation.  I j 

This  great  commotion,  I  must  own,  suits  well  enough  with 

the  disturbances  it  raised  over  the  whole  universe,  such  as  never 

*  Jos.  Mede,  ad  Ph.  ii.  Apo.  xvi.  3.  f  Rev.  Ibid.  J  Med.  Ibid. 

§  Rev.  xvi.  17.  |1  Ace.  part  ii.  ch.  viii.  p.  122. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  191 

had  been  seen  before  on  the  score  of  reUgion.  But  here  it  is 
he  shines  most :  "  the  great  city  was  divided  into  three  parts,* 
namely,"  says  our  author,  "  into  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  Lu- 
theran, and  the  Calvinian  ;  these  are  the  three  parties  that  divide 
the  '  great  city,'  to  wit,  the  Western  Church."  I  accept  the 
omen;  the  Reformation  breaks  unity:  in  breaking  it,  she  divides 
herself  into  two,  and  leaves  unity  to  the  Church  of  Rome  in 
St.  Peter's  chair,  which  is  the  centre  of  it.  But  St.  John  should 
not  have  forgotten  that  one  of  the  divided  parties,  the  Calvinian, 
broke  again  into  two  pieces,  since  England,  reckoned  to  apper- 
tain to  it  by  our  minister,  yet  makes,  in  the  main,  a  sect  apart. 
Nor  must  he  say,  this  division  is  but  hght,  for,  by  his  own  con- 
fession, they  mutually  treat  each  other  as  "  excommunicated 
persons. ""I"  Accordingly,  the  Church  of  England  reckons  the 
Calvinists,  or  Puritans,  in  the  number  of  Nonconformists  ;  that 
is,  in  the  number  of  those  whose  service  she  does  not  allow, 
nor  receives  their  ministers  but  by  ordaining  them  anew  as  pas- 
tors, destitute  of  sanction  or  character.  I  might  also  speak  of 
the  other  sects  which  divided  the  Christian  world  at  the  same 
time  with  Luther  and  Calvin,  and  which,  taken  together  or 
separately,  make  a  party  sufficiently  great  not  to  have  been 
omitted  in  this  passage  of  St.  John.  And  all  considered,  these 
men  should  have  given  their  reformation  a  more  specious  char- 
acter than  that  of  overthrowing  every  thing,  and  a  more  credit- 
able mark  than  that  of  pulhng  to  pieces  the  Western  Church, 
the  most  flourishing  of  the  whole  universe ;  which  has  been  the 
greatest  of  all  plagues. 


BOOK  XIV. 

[From  the  year  1601,  to  that  part  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  wherein  the 
Author  wrote  and  concluded  his  History.] 

A  brief  Summary. — The  excesses  of  the  Reformation,  with  respect  to  Pre- 
destination and  FreeWill,  discovered  in  Holland. — Arminius,  who  owns 
them,  falls  into  other  excesses. — Parties  of  Remonstrants  and  Anti-Re- 
monstrants.— The  Synod  of  Dort,  where  theexcessesof  Calvinian  Justifica- 
tion are  clearly  approved. — Monstrous  Doctrine  on  the  certainty  of  Salvation, 
and  the  justice  of  the  most  wicked  persons. — Consequences  equally  absurd, 
concerning  Infant  Sanctification,  decided  in  the  Synod. — The  Synod's 
procedure  justifies  the  Church  of  Rome  against  Protestants. — Arminianism, 
in  the  main,  left  entire,  notwithstanding  the  decisions  of  Dort. — Pelagianisni 
tolerated,  and  the  suspicion  of  Socinianism  the  sole  cause  of  rejecting  the 
Arminians. — The  uselessness  of  Synodical  decisions  amongst  Protestants. 
— The  Synod  of  Dort's  connivance  at  an  infinity  of  capital  errors,  whilst 
bent  on  maintaining  the  particular  Dogmas  of  Calvinism. — These  Dogmas 
confessed  at  the  beginning  for  essential,  at  last  reduced  almost  to  nothing. — 

*  Rev.  Ibid.  f  S.  1.  xii.  n.  44. 


192  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

Decree  of  Charenton  for  receiving  the  Lutherans  to  Communion. — Conse- 
quence of  this  decree,  which  changes  the  state  of  Controversies. — The  dis- 
tinction of  articles,  Fundamental  and  not  Fundamental,  obliges  Protestants 
to  own,  at  last,  the  Church  of  Rome  for  a  true  Church,  affording  salvation 
to  her  members. — Conference  of  Cassel  between  the  Lutherans  and  Cal- 
vinists. — Their  agreement,  wherein  decisive  grounds  are  established  for 
Communion  under  one  kind. — Present  state  of  Controversies  in  Germany. 
— The  opinion  concerning  Universal  Grace  prevails  in  Franco. — Is  con- 
demned at  Geneva  and  among  the  Swiss. — The  question  decided  by  the 
Magistrate. — Formulary  estabUshed. — The  errors  of  this  Formulary  with 
respect  to  the  Hebrew  text. — Another  decree  concerning  Faith,  made  at 
Geneva. — That  Church  impeached  by  M.  Claude  of  making  a  schism 
from  the  rest  of  the  Churches  by  her  new  decisions. — Reflections  on  the 
Test,  in  which  the  Reality  remains  entire. — Acknowledgment  of  the 
Protestant  Church  of  England,  tliat  the  Mass  and  Invocation  of  Saints 
may  have  a  good  sense, 

1. — Intolerable  excesses  of  Calvinism. — Free-ioill  destroyed,  and  God  made  the 
author  of  sin. — Beza's  words. 

The  subject  of  Grace  and  Free-will  was  carried  to  such 
lengths  in  the  Reformation,  that  it  was  impossible  even  Protes- 
tants themselves  should  not  bS'at  last  sensible  of  these  exorbi- 
tancies.  In  order  to  destroy  Pelagianism,  which  they  were 
determined  to  fix  on  the  Church  of  Rome,  they  had  cast  them- 
selves into  the  opposite  extremes,  insomuch  that  the  very  name 
of  Free-will  excited  a  horror  in  them.  There  never  had  been 
such  a  thing  in  men  or  angels  ;  nay,  impossible  it  should  have 
been :  nor  had  the  Stoics  themselves  ever  made  Fate  more 
rigid  and  inflexible.  Predestination  reached  even  to  sin  itself, 
and  God  was  not  less  the  cause  of  evil  actions  than  of  good  ; 
such  were  Luther's  sentiments  :  Calvin  had  followed  them,  and 
Beza,  the  most  renowned  of  his  disciples,  had  published  "  A 
Brief  Exposition  of  the  Chief  Points  of  the  Christian  Religion," 
where  he  laid  down  this  principle,  "  that  God  does  all  things 
according  to  his  determined  counsel,  even  those  that  are  wicked 
and  execrable."* 

2. — Mam's  Sin  ordained  by  God. 

He  had  extended  this  principle  as  far  as  the  sin  of  the  first 
Man,  which,  according  to  him,  was  not  committed  but  by  God's 
will  and  appointment,  on  account,  that  "  he  having  ordained  the 
end, "I  which  was  to  glorify  his  justice  in  thepunishment  of  the 
Reprobate,  "  must  likewise  have  ordained  the  proportionable 
causes  leading  to  that  end,"  to  wit,  sins  which  lead  to  eternal 
damnation,  and  in  particular  that  of  Adam,  the  origin  of  all  the 
rest ;  so  "  that  the  corruption  of  the  principal  work  of  God," 
namely,  the  first  Man,  "  did  not  happen  by  chance,  nor  without 
the  decree  and  just  will  of  God. "J 

3. — Inevitable  necessity  in  Jldam.. 

It  is  true,  this  author  maintains  at  the  same  time,  "  that  the 

*  Ex.  de  la  Foi.  chez,  Riv.  1560,  ch.  ii.  Cone.  1.  f  lb.  ch.  p.  iii.  t.  iv.  \  art 
V.  p.  35.     X  lb.  Cone,  part  vi.  p.  38. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  193 

will  of  man,  which  was  created  good,  made  itself  evil  :"*  but 
then  he  understands  and  repeats  several  times,  that  what  is 
voluntary,  is  withal  necessary  ;'f"  so  that  nothing  hinders  the 
will  of  sinning  from  being  always  the  fatal  consequence  of  a 
hard  and  unavoidable  necessity ;  and  if  men  will  reply,  "  that 
they  had  not  the  power  of  resisting  the  will  of  God,"  Beza 
does  not  answer  them  as  he  ought  to  do,  that  God  does  not 
move  them  to  sin,  but  says  only,  "  they  must  be  left  to  plead 
against  him,  who  will  be  well  able  to  defend  his  own  cause." 

4. — This  Doctrine  of  Beza  taken  from  Calvin. 

This  doctrine  of  Beza  was  taken  from  Calvin,  who  maintains, 
in  express  terms,J  "  that  Adam  could  not  avoid  falling,  yet  was 
nevertheless  guilty,  because  he  fell  voluntarily;"  which  he 
undertakes  to  prove  in  his  Institution,  and  reduces  the  whole  of 
his  doctrine  to  two  principles  :  the  first,  that  the  will  of  God 
causes  in  all  things,  even  in  our  wills,  without  excepting  that 
of  Adam,  an  inevitable  necessity  ;  the  second  that  this  necessity 
is  no  excuse  for  sinners.  Hereby  it  is  plain,  he  preserves  free- 
will in  name  only,  even  in  the  state  of  innocence  ;  and  after  this 
there  is  no  room  for  disputing  whether  he  makes  God  the  author 
of  sin,  since  besides  his  frequently  drawing  this  consequence, 
it  is  but  too  evident,  by  the  principles  he  lays  down,  that  the  will 
of  God  is  the  sole  cause  of  that  necessity  imposed  on  all  that  sin.§ 

Nor  indeed  are  Calvin's  sentiments,  and  those  of  the  first 
reformers,  any  longer  disputed  now,  as  to  that  point ;  and  after 
owning  what  they  have  said  upon  it,  "  even  that  God  pushes 
on  the  wicked  to  enormous  crimes,  and  that  he  is  in  some  sort 
the  cause  of  sin,"|j  his-  disciples  think  they  have  sufficiently 
justified  the  Reformation  from  these  so  impious  expressions,  by 
reason  that  "  they  have  not  been  employed  for  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years ;"![  as  if  it  were  not  a  sufficient  conviction  of  the 
evil  spirit  she  was  conceived  in,  to  confess  in  her  very  authors 
such  horrid  blasphemies. 

5. — The  Tenets  which  Calvin  and  Beza  superadded  to  those  of  Luther. 
Such,  therefore,  was  the  fatality  which  Calvin  and  Beza  taught 
after  Luther  ;  and  thereto  the  aforesaid  dogmas  were  added 
by  them  regarding  the  certainty  of  Salvation  and  the  inam.issi- 
bility  of  justice.**  As  much  as  to  say,  true  justifying  faith 
could  never  be  lost :  those  that  have  it  are  surely  assured  of 
having  it,  and  thereby  are  not  only  assured  of  their  present 
justice,  as  spoke  the  Lutherans,  but  also  of  their  eternal  salva- 
tion, and  this  with  an  absolute  and  infallible  certainty  :  assured, 

*  Ex.  de  la  Foi.  chez.  Riv.  1 560,  ch.  ii.  Cone,  part  vi.  p.  39.  f  lb.  29, 90, 9 1. 

ch.  iii.  Con.  part  vi.  p.  40.     J  Lib.  de  JEt.  Dei  prides,  opusc.  704,  705.  Lib. 

iii.  c.  xxiii.  n.  7,  8,  9.      §  De  praedes.  de  occult,  provid.,  &c.       ||  Jur.  jugem. 

sur  les  mech.  Sect  xvii.  pp.  142,  143.     U  Jur.  Ibid.     ^'^  S.  1.  ix.  n.  3,  et  seq, 

VOL.  II.  17 


194  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

by  consequence,  of  dying  just,  whatever  crimes  they  might 
commit ;  and  not  only  of  dying  just,  but  also  of  continuing  so 
in  sin  itself,  because  without  that,  they  could  not  maintain  the 
sense  given  by  them  to  this  text  of  St.  Paul,  "  the  gifts  and  call- 
ing of  God  are  without  repentance."* 

6. — Every  Believer  certified  of  his  Perseverance  and  Salvation :  and  this,  in 
Calvhiism,  is  the  chief  foundation  of  Religion. 

This  is  what  Beza  likewise  decided  in  the  same  exposition  of 
faith,  where  he  said,  "  that  to  the  elect  alone  was  granted  the  gift 
of  faith :"  that  this  faith,  which  is  proper  and  peculiar  to  the 
elect,  consists  in  depending  with  certainty,  each  "  one  for  him- 
self, on  their  election  :"  whence  it  follows,  "  that  whosoever  hath 
this  gift  of  true  faith,  ought  to  rest  assured  of  his  perseverance." 
For  as  he  says,"]*  "  What  does  it  avail  me  to  believe,  if  I  be  not 
assured  (perseverance  in  faith  being  requisite)  that  perseverance 
will  be  given  me  ?"  Then  he  reckons  among  the  fruits  of  this 
doctrine,  that  it  alone  teaches  us  to  be  assured  of  our  faith  for 
the  time  to  come  :  which  he  takes  to  be  of  such  importance, 
*'  that  those,"  says  he,  "  who  oppose  this,  do  certainly  overthrow 
the  chief  foundation  of  the  Christian  religion." 

7. — This  cei-tainty  of  One's  own  particular  Salvation,  as  great  as  if  God  himself 
had  given  it  us  by  His  own  Mouth. 

Thus,  this  certainty,  which  every  man  hath  of  his  own  faith 
and  perseverance,  is  not  only  a  certainty  of  faith,  but  also  the 
principal  foundation  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  and  to  show  that 
he  speaks  not  here  of  a  moral  and  conjectural  certainty,  Beza 
adds,j;  "  that  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  know  whether  we  be 
predestined  to  salvation,  and  to  be  assured  of  the  glorification 
which  we  expect,  on  account  of  which  all  Satan's  war  is  waged 
against  us ;  yea,  say  I,  assured,"  continues  he,  "  not  by  our 
fancy,  but  by  conclusions  as  certain  as  if  we  had  ascended  into 
heaven  to  hear  that  sentence  from  the  mouth  of  God."  He  will 
not  have  the  faithful  aspire  to  less  certamty  than  this  :  and  after 
proposing  the  means  of  attaining  to  it,  which  he  places  in  the 
certain  knowledge  we  have  of  the  faith  that  is  in  us,  he  conludes, 
*'  we  thereby  learn  that  we  are  given  to  the  Son  according  to 
God's  purpose  and  predestination  :  by  consequence,"  proceeds 
he,  "  since  that  God  is  unalterable,  since  that  persevercmce  in 
the  faith  is  requisite  to  salvation,  and  being  made  certain  of  our 
predestination,  glorification  is  annexed  to  it  by  an  indissoluble 
band :  how  can  we  doubt  of  perseverance,  and  finally  of  our 
salvation?" 

8. — Calvinists  begin  to  be  sensible  of  these  Excesses. 

As  the  Lutherans,  no  less  than  the  Catholics,  abominated  these 

♦  Rom.  xi.  29.       t  Ch.  viii.  cone,  part  i.  p.  Q6.       |  lb.  cone,  part  ii.  p.  121. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  195 

dogmas,  and  the  writings  of  the  first  were  read  with  a  more  fa- 
vorable prevention  by  the  Calvinists,  the  horror  of  these  senti- 
ments, unheard  of  till  Calvin's  days,  spread  itself  by  little  and 
little  among  the  Calvinian  churches.  Men  began  to  awake,  and 
perceive  how  horrible  it  was,  that  a  true  believer  could  not  fear 
for  his  salvation  in  contradiction  to  this  precept  of  the  apostle  : 
*'  work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling."*  If  it 
be  a  temptation  and  weakness  to  fear  for  one's  salvation,  as  in 
Calvinism  men  are  forced  to  say,  why  does  St.  Paul  command 
this  fear  ;  and  can  a  temptation  fall  within  the  precept  t 

9. — They  opposed  this  Fear  commanded  by  St.  Paul, 
The  £mswer  returned  by  them  was  not  satisfactory.  "  The 
believer  trembles,"  said  they,  "when  he  regards  himself,  because, 
however  just  he  may  be,  he  hath  nothing  in  himself  but  death 
and  damnation  ;  and  would  indeed  be  damned,  were  he  judged 
with  rigor.  But  resting  assured  that  he  shall  not  be  so  judged, 
what  has  he  to  fear  1  the  future,"  say  they  ;  "  because  should 
he  forsake  God,  he  would  perish  :"  weak  reasoning  !  since,  be- 
sides their  holding  the  condition  itself  impossible,  they  hold, 
moreover,  that  the  true  faithful  ought  to  believe  assuredly  that 
they  shall  persevere.  Thus,  in  all  manner  of  ways,  the  fear 
inspired  by  St.  Paul  is  banished,  and  salvation  rendered  certain. 
10. — Frivolous  Evasion. 
When  they  answer, — without  fearing  for  salvation,  there  are 
other  chastisements  enough  to  afford  just  occasion  of  trembling; 
the  Catholics  and  Lutherans  reply,  that  this  fear  mentioned  by 
St.  Paul  does  manifestly  regard  salvation  :  "  Work  out,"  says 
he,  "  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling."  The  apostle 
inspired  a  terror  reaching  so  far  as  to  fear  making  shipwreck  in 
the  faith,  as  well  as  in  a  good  conscience  ;'[*  and  Jesus  Christ 
himself  hath  said,  "  fear  him  who  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul 
and  body  in  hell  :"J  a  precept  which  concerned  the  faithful  as 
M'ell  as  the  rest,  and  made  them  fear  no  less  a  thing  than  the 
loss  of  their  own  souls.  To  these  proofs  they  added  those  from 
experience  :  the  idolatrous  and  disastrous  fall  of  a  Solomon, 
adorned  undoubtedly  at  first  with  all  the  gifts  of  grace  ;  the 
abominable  crimes  of  a  David  ;  besides  what  every  person  is 
conscious  of  in  his  own  regard.  What,  then,  is  it  fitting  that, 
without  security  against  crimes,  you  should  be  secure  against 
their  penalties  ;  and  that  he,  who  once  believed  himself  truly 
faithful,  should  be  obliged  to  believe  that  he  is  sure  of  forgive- 
ness, let  him  fall  into  whatsoever  abominations  he  may.  But 
must  he  lose  this  certainty  in  the  midst  of  crimes  1 — he  must 
then  necessarily  lose  the  remembrance  of  his  faith  and  of  the 

*  Phil.  ii.  12.  t  1  Tim.  i.  19.  J  Matt.  x.  28. 


196  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

grace  he  has  received.  Does  he  not  lose  it  ? — he  must  then 
remain  as  secure  in  crimes,  as  in  innocence  ;  and,  provided  he 
argue  aright  according  to  the  principles  of  his  sect,  he  shall  find 
therein  Wherewith  to  condemn  all  doubts  whatever  which  might 
arise  of  his  conversion ;  so  that,  whilst  he  continues  to  live 
amidst  disorders,  he  will  be  sure  not  to  die  in  them :  or  else, 
will  be  sure  he  never  had  been  a  true  believer  when  he  most  be- 
lieved himself  such  ;  and  there  you  see  him  in  despair,  never 
able  to  hope  for  more  certainty  of  his  salvation  than  he  had  en- 
joyed then,  nor  able,  to  do  what  he  will  ever  to  secure  himself 
in  this  life,  that  he  shall  not  relapse  into  the  deplorable  state  he 
now  is  in.  What  remedy  for  all  this,  unless  to  conclude,  that 
the  infallible  certainty,  boasted  of  in  Calvinism,  suits  not  with 
this  life,  and  that  nothing  is  more  rash  nor  pernicious  than  such 
certainty. 

11. — Justifying  Faith  not  forfeited  by  sin. 

But  how  much  is  it  more  so,  to  hold  one's  self  assured,  I  do 
not  say  to  recover  lost  grace,  with  true  justifying  faith,  but  not 
to  lose  them  in  sin  itself;  to  remain  therein  still  just  and  regen- 
erated ;  to  preserve  therein  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  seed  of 
life,  as  the  Calvinists  undoubtedly  believe,*  if  they  follow  Calvin 
and  Beza  and  the  other  chief  doctors  of  their  sect  t  For,  ac- 
cording to  them,  justifying  faith  is  peculiar  to  the  sole  elect,  who 
are  never  deprived  of  it ;  and  Beza  said,  in  the  exposition  so 
often  quoted, f  "  that  faith,  although  it  be  as  it  were  buried  some- 
times in  the  elect  of  God,  in  order  to  make  them  sensible  of 
their  infirmity,  yet  it  never  is  without  the  fear  of  God,  and  charity 
for  our  neighbor."  And  a  little  further  on,  J  he  says  two  things 
concerning  the  spirit  of  adoption :  first,  "  that  those  who  are 
planted  in  the  Church  only  for  a  time,  do  never  receive  it ;" 
second,  "  that  those  who  are  admitted  among  the  people  of  God 
by  this  spirit  of  adoption,  do  never  go  forth  from  them." 

12. — What  Scripture-texts  Calvinists  ground  themselves  on. 

This  doctrine  was  grounded  on  these  texts  :  "  God  is  not  like 
to  man,  so  as  to  be  a  liar ;  nor  like  to  the  son  of  man,  so  as  to 
repent."§  Which  also  was  the  reason  why  St.  Paul  said,  "That 
the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  without  repentance."  j|  What 
then,  does  not  man  lose  any  of  the  gifts  of  God  in  adulteries,  in 
homicides,  in  the  blackest  of  crimes,  not  even  in  idolatry  ?  And 
if  some  of  them  at  least  may  be  lost  for  a  time  and  during  this 
state,  why  should  not  justifying  faith,  and  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  be  of  this  number,  nothing  being  more  incompatible 
with  the  state  of  sin,  than  such  Graces  ? 

+  S.  1.  ix.  n.  \5.  t  Ch.  iv.  Cone,  part  13.  p.  74. 

X  S.  1.  ix.  Ch.  v.  Cone.  6.  p.  90.         §  Cone.  p.  74.  \\  Rom.  xi.  29. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  197 

13. — (Question  proposed  to  the  Calvinists  :  xohethera  Believer  were  damned  that 

died  in  his  crime. 

In  regard  to  this  last  difficulty,  a  very  material  query  was  also 

proposed,  which  I  beg  may  be  attentively  considered,  because 

it  will  be  the  subject  of  an  important  dispute  presently  to  be 

treated  of.     The  Calvinist  is  therefore  asked,  whether  this  true 

believer,  David  for  instance,  fallen  into  adultery  and  murder, 

would  be  saved  or  damned  dying  in  this  state  before  he  had  done 

penance  ?    None  durst  answer,  he  would  be  saved  ;  and  indeed, 

how  can  a  Christian  maintain  that  any  may  be  saved  with  such 

crimes  ?     This  true  believer  would  be  therefore  damned,  dying 

in  this  state ;  this  true  believer,  in  this  state,  has  therefore  ceased 

to  be  just,  since  none  will  ever  say  of  a  just  man,  that  he  would 

be  damned  dying  in  his  justice. 

14. — The  Calvinists^  inextricable  confusion  under  this  question. 

To  answer,  he  shall  not  die  in  his  sin,  but  will  do  penance  if 
he  be  of  the  number  of  the  predestinated,  is  saying  nothing ;  for 
it  is  not  predestination,  nor  the  penance  we  shall  do  one  day, 
which  justifies  and  makes  us  saints  ;  otherwise,  a  predestinated 
infidel  would  actually  be  sanctified  and  justified  even  before  he 
had  faith  and  repentance  ;  since,  before  he  had  either  of  them, 
he  was  already  certainly  predestinated ;  God  had  already  cer- 
tainly decreed  he  should  have  them. 

If  it  be  answered,  this  infidel  is  not  actually  justified  and 
sanctified,  because  he  has  not  as  yet  had  faith,  and  repentance, 
although  he  be  to  have  them  hereafter ;  whereas,  the  true  be- 
liever has  them  already :  here  arises  a  new  perplexity  ;  for  it 
would  follow  from  thence,  that  faith  and  repentance,  but  once 
exercised  by  the  faithful,  justify  and  sanctify  them  actually  and 
for  ever,  although  ceasing  to  exercise  them,  and  even  abandon- 
ing them  by  abominable  crimes  :  a  thing  more  horrible  to  con- 
ceive than  all  hitherto  said  on  this  subject. 

15. — This  no  indifferent  question. 
Again,  this  is  no  chimerical  question ;  it  is  a  question  that 
every  believer,  when  he  sins,  should  make  to  himself:  or  rather, 
it  is  a  judgment  he  ought  to  pronounce  ;  were  I  to  die  in  the 
state  I  am  in,  I  should  be  damned.  To  add  after  this,  but  I  am 
predestinated,  and  shall  amend  one  day ;  and  by  reason  of  this 
future  amendment,  am,  at  this  instant,  just  and  holy  and  a  living 
member  of  Christ  Jesus,  is  utter  blindness. 

16. — These  difficulties  were  the  occasion  of  many  forsaJdng  Calvinism, 

Whilst  Catholics,  and  Lutherans  more  readily  listened  to  in 
the  new  Reformation,  than  they,  urged  home  these  arguments, 
many  Calvinists  were  convinced  ;  and  seeing  on  the  other  hand 
amongst  the  Lutherans  a  more  engaging  doctrine,  they  were 

VOL.  II.  17* 


198  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

attracted  by  it.*  A  general  will  in  God  to  save  all  mankind  ; 
in  Jesus  Christ,  a  sincere  intention  to  redeem  them,  and  means 
sufficient  offered  unto  all,  was  what  the  Lutherans  taught  in  the 
book  of  Concord.  We  have  seen  as  much  ;  we  have  seen  even 
their  excesses  regarding  these  offered  means  and  the  co-opera- 
tion of  free-will :  they  gave  daily  more  and  more  into  these 
sentiments,  and  the  Calvinists  began  to  listen  to  them,  prin- 
cipally in  Holland. 

17. — Arminius's  dispute  and  excesses. — 1601,  1602. 
James  Arminius,  a  famous  minister  of  Amsterdam,  and  since 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Leyden,  was  the  first 
that  declared  himself  in  the  university  against  the  maxims  re- 
ceived in  the  Churches  of  his  country  :  but  a  man  of  so  vehe- 
ment a  temper  was  not  likely  to  keep  within  just  bounds.  He 
openly  blamed  Beza,  Calvin,  Zanchius,  and  the  rest,  whom  Cal- 
vinism accounted  her  main  pillars  and  support,  j*  But  he  im- 
pugned excesses  with  other  excesses;  and  besides  his  apparently 
drawing  near  to  the  Pelagians,  was  suspected,  nor  without  rea- 
son, of  something  worse  ;  certain  words  falling  from  him,  made 
him  be  believed  favorable  to  Socinianism,  and  a  great  number 
of  his  disciples  turning  afterwards  to  that  side,  confirmed  the 
suspicion. 

IS. — Gomar''s  opposition  to  him  in  defence  of  Calvinism. — Party  of  Remon- 
strants and  vinti- Remonstrants. 

He  met  with  a  terrible  adversary  in  the  person  of  Francis 
Gomar,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Leyden,  a 
rigorous  Calvinist,  if  ever  there  was  one.  The  academies  di- 
vided themselves  between  these  two  Professors :  the  division 
increased  ;  the  ministers  espoused  the  quarrel ;  Arminius  be- 
held whole  churches  in  his  party.  His  death  did  not  end  the 
dispute.  And  the  minds  of  men  on  both  sides  were  so  inflamed 
under  the  names  of  Remonstrants  and  Anti-Remonstrants, 
namely,  of  Arminians  and  Gomarists,  that  the  United  Provinces 
saw  themselves  on  the  very  brink  of  a  civil  war. 

19. — The  Prince  of  Orange  upholds  the  first,  Barneveld  the  second  Party. 

Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  had  his  reasons  for  supporting 
the  Gomarists.  Barneveld,  his  enemy,  was  judged  favorable 
to  the  Arminians  ;  and  the  reason  of  it  was  his  proposing  a 
mutual  toleration  and  imposing  silence  on  both  parties.  J 

This  indeed  answered  the  wishes  of  the  Remonstrants.     A 

party  just  shooting  up,  and  as  yet  but  weak,  asks  no  more  than 

time  to  gather  strength  :   but  the  ministers,  among  whom  Gomar 

prevailed,  were  determined  on  victory,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange 

*  S.  1.  viii.  n.  52.  Epit.  c.  xi.  Concord,  p.  621.  solid,  repet.  669,805,  et  seq. 
t  Act.  Syn.  Dordr.  Edit.  Dordr.  1620.  Preef.  ad  Eccl.  ante  Synod.  Dordr. 

t  Ibid. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  199 

had  more  skill  than  to  let  a  party  strike  root,  which  he  judged 
as  opposite  to  his  grandeur  as  to  the  primitive  maxims  of  the 
Reformation. 

20. — The  Remontrants  or  Arminians  condemned  in  the  Provincial  Synods. — 
Convocation  of  the  Synod  of  Dort. 

The  provincial  Synods  had  done  nothing  but  aggravate  the  evil 
by  condemning  the  Remonstrants  ;  it  was  necessary  to  proceed 
at  length  to  a  greater  remedy :  wherefore  the  States-general 
assembled  a  national  Synod,  and  invited  to  it  all  those  of  their 
religion  in  every  country.  Upon  this  invitation  England,  Scot- 
land, the  Palatinate,  Hesse,  the  Swiss,  the  republics  of  Geneva, 
of  Bremen,  and  Embden,in  a  word,  the  whole  body  of  the  Ref- 
ormation not  united  to  the  Lutherans,  sent  deputies,  with  the 
exception  of  the  French,  whom  reasons  of  state  prevented  ;  and 
of  all  these  deputies,  in  conjunction  with  those  of  the  whole 
United  Provinces,  was  composed  that  famous  Synod  of  Dort, 
whose  doctrine  and  procedure  we  are  now  to  relate. 

21. —  Opening  of  the  Synod,  1618. 
This  assembly  opened  the  14th  of  November,  1618,  with  a 
sermon  preached  by  Balthasar  Lydius,  minister  of  Dort.  The 
first  sessions  were  taken  up  in  regulating  divers  matters  of  dis- 
cipline, or  of  procedure  ;  nor  was  it  till  the  13th  of  December, 
in  the  thirty-first  sitting,  that,  properly  speaking,  they  began  to 
treat  of  doctrine. 

22. — The  dispute  reduced  to  five  heads. — Declaration  of  the  Remonstrajits  in 
general  touching  these  five  heads. 

In  order  to  understand  in  what  manner  they  proceeded  there, 
it  is  necessary  to  know  that,  after  many  books  and  conferences, 
the  dispute  was  at  length  reduced  to  five  heads.  The  first  re- 
garded predestination  ;  the  second,  the  universality  of  redemp- 
tion ;  the  third  and  the  fourth,  which  were  always  treated  to- 
gether, regarded  the  corruption  of  man  and  his  conversion  :  the 
fifth  regarded  perseverance. 

On  these  five  heads,  the  Remonstrants  had  declared  in  gen- 
eral, in  full  Synod,  by  the  mouth  of  Simon  Episcopius,  Professor 
of  Divinity  at  Ley  den,  who  always  appears  at  their  head,  that 
men  of  great  renown  and  repute  in  the  Reformation  had  laid 
down  such  things  as  agreed  neither  with  God's  wisdom,  nor  with 
his  goodness  and  justice,  nor  with  the  love  which  Jesus  Christ 
bore  to  all  men,  nor  with  his  satisfaction  and  merits,  nor  with 
the  sanctity  of  preaching  and  the  ministry,  nor  with  the  use  of 
the  sacraments,  nor,  in  fine,  wuth  the  duties  of  a  Christian. 
These  great  men,  whom  they  impeached,  were  the  authors  of 
the  Reformation, — Calvin,  Beza,  Zanchius,  and  the  others, 
whom  they  were  not  allowed  to  name,  but  whom  they  had  not 
spared  in.  their  writings.    After  this  general  declaration  of  their 


200  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

sentiments,  they  explained  themselves  in  particular  as  to  the  five 
articles  ;*  and  their  declaration  attacked  principally  the  certainty 
of  salvation,  and  the  inamissibility  of  justice — tenets  by  which, 
they  pretended,  piety  was  ruined  in  the  Reformation,  and  so  fine 
a  name  discredited.  I  shall  relate  the  substance  of  this  decla- 
ration of  the  Remonstrants,  in  order  that  it  may  be  better  un- 
derstood what  chiefly  was  the  subject  matter  of  the  deliberation 
and  ihe  result  thereof,  in  the  decisions  of  the  Synod. 
23. — The  import  of  the  declaration  of  the  Remonstrants  as  to  each  particular. — 

^s  to  Predestination. 

Concerning  Predestination,  they  said| — "  They  ought  not  to 
own  in  God  any  absolute  decree,  whereby  he  had  determined 
to  give  Jesus  Christ  to  the  elect  alone,  no  more  than  to  give  to 
them  alone  by  an  efficacious  vocation,  faith,  justification,  per- 
severance, and  glory  ;  but  that  he  had  appointed  Jesus  Christ 
the  common  redeemer  of  the  whole  world,  and  resolved,  by  this 
decree,  to  justify  and  save  all  those  who  should  believe  in  him, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  give  to  all  of  them  sufficient  means 
in  order  to  be  saved  ;  that  none  perished  through  want  of  these 
means,  but  through  the  abuse  thereof;  that  the  absolute  and 
especial  election  of  particular  persons  was  made  in  view  of  their 
faith  and  future  perseverance,  nor  was  there  any  election  but 
conditional ;  and  that  reprobation  likewise  was  made  in  view  of 
men's  infidelity  and  perseverance  in  so  great  an  evil." 

24. —  Doctrine  of  the  Remonstrants  concerning  Infant  Baptism,  and  lohat  they 
xoould  conclude  from  it. 

They  added  two  points  worthy  of  particular  consideration  : 
the  first,  that  all  children  of  the  faithful  were  sanctified,  and  that 
none  of  them,  dying  before  the  use  of  reason,  are  damned  ;  the 
second,  that  with  much  more  reason  none  of  these  children 
dying  after  baptism,  before  the  use  of  reason,  are  damned.  J 

In  saying  that  all  the  children  of  the  faithful  are  sanctified, 
they  did  but  repeat  what  we  have  clearly  seen  in  the  Calvinian 
Confessions  of  Faith;  and  if  they  be  sanctified,  it  is  evident  they 
cannot  be  damned  in  this  state.  But  after  this  first  article,  the 
second  seemed  unnecessary  ;  for  if  these  children  were  secure 
of  their  salvation  before  baptism,  after  its  reception  there  could 
be  no  question  of  it.  It  was  therefore  with  a  particular  design 
that  this  second  article  was  inserted,  and  the  Remonstrants 
would  thereby  denote  the  inconstancy  of  the  Calvinists,  who  on 
one  hand,  to  salve  the  baptism  given  to  all  these  children,  said, 
they  were  all  saints,  and  born  in  the  covenant,  the  sign  whereof, 
by  consequence,  could  not  be  refused  them ;  and  to  salve,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  the  inamissibilty  of  justice,  they 
said  that  baptism  given  to  children  had  not  its  effect,  but  in  the 
*  Sese.  xxxi.  p.  112.  f  Ibid.  J  Art.  ix.  10.  Ibid. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  201 

predestinated  alone ;  so  that  the  baptized  that  lived  ill  after- 
wards never  had  been  saints,  not  even  with  the  baptism  they 
had  received  in  their  infancy. 

Remark,  I  beseech  you,  judicious  reader,  this  important  diffi- 
culty ;  it  strikes  home  to  the  question  of  inamissibility,  and  it 
will  be  curious  to  behold  how  the  Synod  will  behave  in  this 
regard. 
25. — Declaration  of  the  Remonstrants  concerning  the  universality  of  Redemption. 

As  to  the  second  head,  regarding  the  universality  of  redemp- 
tion, the  Remonstrants  said,*  that  "  the  price  paid  by  the  Son 
of  God  was  not  only  sufficient  to  all,  but  actually  offered  for  all 
and  every  individual  person  ;  that  none  were  excluded  from  the 
fruit  of  redemption  by  an  absolute  decree,  or  otherwise  than  by 
their  own  fault ;  that  God,  prevailed  with  by  his  Son,  had  made 
a  new  treaty  with  all  mankind,  although  sinners  and  damned." 
They  said,  by  this  treaty  he  had  bound  himself  in  respect  of  all, 
to  afford  them  those  sufficient  means  as  abovementioned:  '-but 
that  the  remission  of  sins,  merited  for  all,  was  not  given  actu- 
ally, except  through  actual  faith,  whereby  man  believed  actually 
in  Jesus  Christ ;"  by  which  words  they  gave  to  understand, 
that  whosoever  lost,  by  his  crimes,  actual  faith  which  justifies 
us,  lost  also,  together  with  it,  justifying  grace  and  sanctity ; 
finally,  they  said  also,  "  none  ought  to  believe  Jesus  Christ  died 
for  him,  save  only  those  for  whom  he  died  in  effect  ;|  insomuch 
that  the  reprobate,  for  whom  Jesus  Christ  did  not  die,  whatso- 
ever some  might  think  of  them,  ought  not  to  believe  that  he  died 
for  them."  This  article  reached  much  further  than  it  seemed. 
For  the  design  of  it  v/as  to  show  (according  to  the  doctrine  of 
Calvin  and  the  Calvinists,  who  laid  down  for  an  undoubted 
dogma,  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  die  in  any  sort  but  for  the  pre- 
destinated, and  in  no  sort  for  the  reprobate)  that  it  followed  from 
thence,  that  to  be  enabled  to  say,  Jesus  Christ  died  for  me,  one 
ought  to  be  assured,  with  an  absolute  certainty,  of  his  predesti- 
nation and  eternal  happiness,  mthout  ever  being  able  to  say, 
"  he  died  for  me,  but  I  have  rendered  his  death  and  redemption 
unserviceable  to  me," — a  doctrine  which  defeats  all  preaching 
of  the  word  to  Christians,  who,  if  bad  livers,  are  continually  told 
they  have  made  themselves  unworthy  of  being  redeemed  by 
Jesus  Christ.  Accordingly,  this  was  one  of  those  articles  by 
which  the  Remonstrants  maintained,  that,  in  the  Reformation, 
all  the  sincerity  and  holiness  of  preaching  was  subverted,  as 
well  as  this  text  of  St.  Peter — "  They  have  denied  the  Lord  that 
bought  them,  and  brought  upon  themselves  swift  perdition. "J 

26. — Their  doctrine  as  to  the  third  arid  fourth  head. 

Regarding  the  third  and  fourth  head,  after  saying  that  grace 
+  Sess.  xxxiv.  p.  115,  et  seq.  ]  Art  iv.  Ibid.  |  2  Pet.  ii.  1, 


202  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

is  necessary  to  all  good,  not  only  to  finish,  but  also  to  begin  it, 
they  added,  "  that  efficacious  grace  was  not  irresistible."*  This 
was  their  expression,  and  that  of  the  Lutherans,  whose  doctrine 
they  boasted  of  following.  Their  meaning  was,  that  one  might 
resist  all  kind  of  grace  ;  and  thereby,  as  every  one  sees,  they 
pretended, "f  "  That  although  grace  were  bestowed  unequally, 
yet  God  gave  or  offered  a  sufficient  grace  to  all  those  to  whom 
the  gospel  was  announced,  even  to  those  that  were  not  converted ; 
and  offered  it  with  a  sincere  and  serious  desire  of  saving  them 
all  without  acting  two  different  parts,  seeming  inclined  to  save, 
and  at  bottom  unwilling  to  do  it,  and  moving  men  interiorly  to 
sins  which  he  forbade  exteriorly."  In  all  these  places  they 
aimed  directly  at  the  authors  of  the  Reformation,  and  that  insin- 
cere vocation  which  they  attributed  to  God,  whilst  he  openly 
called  those  to  grace  whom  in  reality  he  excluded  from  it,  pre- 
destinating them  to  evil. 

In  order  to  show  how  far  grace  was  resistible,^  (these  words 
warr.mted  by  use,  must  be  allowed,  in  order  to  avoid  circumlo- 
cution,) they  had  inserted  an  article,  which  said  "  that  man 
could  do  more  good  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost  than  he 
did,  a.nd  keep  at  a  further  distance  from  evil  than  he  did  ;"  he 
therefore  frequently  resisted  grace,  and  made  it  useless. 

27. — Declaration  of  the  Remonstrants  concerning  the  Amissihilitxj  of  Justice. 

Concerning  perseverance,  they  decided, §  that  "  God  gave  to 
the  true  faithful,  regenerated  by  his  grace,  means  for  preserving 
themselves  in  that  state  ;  that  they  might  lose  the  true  justifying 
faith,  and  fall  into  sins  incompatible  with  justification,  even  into 
atrocious  crim^es  ;  persevere  in  them,  die  in  them,  recover  from 
them  likewise  by  repentance,  nevertheless  without  being  neces- 
sitated to  it  by  grace."  Here  is  what  they  urged  with  the 
greatest  efforts,  "  detesting,"  said  they,  "  from  the  bottom  of 
their  hearts  those  impious  dogmas,  and  contrary  to  good  morals, 
which  were  disseminated  daily  among  the  people  ;  viz.,  that  the 
true  faithful  could  not  fall  into  the  sins  of  malice,  but  only  into 
the  sins  of  ignorance  and  weakness  ;  that  they  could  not  lose 
grace  ;  that  all  the  crimes  of  the  world  put  together  could  not 
f rust^ate  their  election,  nor  deprive  them  of  the  certainty  thereof; 
a  thing,"  added  they,  "  which  opened  a  gap  to  carnal  and  per- 
nicious security ;  that  no  crimes,  how  horrible  soever,  were 
imputed  to  them  ;  that  all  manner  of  sins  present  and  to  come 
were  forgiven  them  beforehand  ;  that  in  the  midst  of  heresies, 
of  adulteries,  of  murders,  for  which  they  might  be  excommuni- 
cated, they  could  not  totally  and  finally  lose  the  faith." 

*  Ead.  Sess.  xxxiv.  p.  1 16,  et  seq.      t  Ibid.  p.  117.       J  Art.  vii.  Ibid.  p.  117. 
§  Ibid.  pp.  117,  118,  et  seq.     |1  Ead.  Sess.  xxxiv.  Art.  iv.  Ibid.  p.  118. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  203 

28. — Two  inatencd  words  tohich  the  whole  dispute  turned  on :   that  one  coidd 
lose  grace  totally  a7id  finally. 

These  two  words,  totally  and  finalhj^  were  what  the  dispute 
chiefly  turned  upon.  To  lose  faith  and  the  grace  of  justification 
totally,  was  to  lose  it  wholly  for  a  certain  time;  to  lose  it  finally, 
was  to  lose  it  for  ever  and  beyond  recovery.  Both  the  ono  and 
the  other  were  held  impossible  in  Calvinism,  and  both  of  these 
excesses  were  detested  by  the  Remonstrants. 

29. — ^S gainst  the  certainty  of  Salvation. 

They  concluded  the  declaration  of  their  doctrine  by  saying 
that,  as  the  true  believer  might,  in  the  time  present,  be  assured 
of  his  faith  and  good  conscience,  he  might  also  be  assured  for 
that  time,  should  he  then  die,  of  his  eternal  salvation  ;*  that  he 
might  also  be  assured  of  being  able  to  persevere  in  the  faith, 
forasmuch  as  grace  would  never  fail  him  for  that  end  :  but  to  be 
assured  of  always  doing  his  duty,  they  did  not  see  how  he  "  could 
be  so,  nor  how  this  assurance  could  be  necessary  for  him." 

30. — Foundatio7is  of  the  Remonstrants,  viz.,  that  there  is  no  gi'atuitovs  pre- 
ference for  the  Elect. 

If  you  desire  now  to  comprehend  in  few  words  the  whole  of 
their  doctrine,  the  foundation  of  it  was,  that  there  is  no  absolute 
election,  no  gratuitous  preference,  whereby  God  prepares  for 
certain  chosen  persons,  and  for  them  only,  certain  means  to  lead 
them  to  glory ;  but  that  God  offers  to  all  men,  and  especially 
all  those  to  whom  the  gospel  is  published,  sufficient  means  of 
conversion,  which  some  make  use  of,  and  others  not,  without 
employing  any  other  for  his  elect  more  than  for  the  reprobate  ; 
so  that  election  always  is  conditional,  which,  the  condition 
failing,  may  be  forfeited.  Whence  they  concluded  in  the  first 
place,  that  we  may  lose  justifying  grace,  and  totally,  th^it  is, 
entirely  ;  and  finally,  that  is,  beyond  recovery  :  secondly,  that 
man  could  not  in  any  wise  be  sure  of  his  salvation. 

31. — Wherein  Catholics  agreed  with  the  Remonstrants. 

Although  Catholics  did  not  agree  with  them  in  the  principle, 
they  agreed  with  them  in  the  two  last  consequences,  which 
nevertheless  they  grounded  on  other  principles,  which  it  is  not 
necessary  to  the  present  subject  to  set  forth  in  this  place  ;  and 
likewise  they  agreed  that  the  Calvinistic  doctrine,  opposi;;e  to 
these  consequences,  was  impious,  and  an  inlet  to  ail  sorts  of 
wickedness. 

32. — Wherein  consisted  the  difference  hetioeen  Catholics,  Lutherans,  and 

Remonstrants. 

The  Lutherans  also  agreed  on  this  point  with  the  Catholics 

and  Remonstrants.     But  the  difference  between  Catholics  and 

Lutherans  is,  tliat  these  latter,  denying  the  certainty  of  perse- 

*  Art.  vii,  and  viii.     Ibid.  p.  119. 


204  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

verance,  acknowledged  a  certainty  of  present  justice,  in  which 
they  were  followed  by  the  Remonstrants  ;  whereas  Catholics 
differed  from  both  of  them,  by  maintaining  that  none  could  be 
assured  either  of  his  future  good  dispositions,  nor  even  of  his 
present  ones,  which  by  reason  of  the  bhndness  of  self-love,  we 
have  always  grounds  to  distrust ;  so  that  the  confidence  we 
have  on  God's  side,  takes  not  away  wholly  the  doubt  we  have 
on  our  own. 

33. — Calvinists  contrary  to  the  Doctrine  of  them  both. 

Calvin  and  the  Calvinists  opposed  the  doctrine  of  both  these, 
and  maintained  against  the  Lutherans  and  Remonstrants,  that 
the  true  believer  was  sure,  not  of  the  present  only,  but  also  of 
the  future,  and  sure,  by  consequence,  of  never  losing  totally, 
that  is,  entirely  ;  nor  finally,  that  is,  beyond  recovery,  justifying 
grace  or  the  true  faith  once  received. 

34. — The  Remonstrants  demand  a  distinct  Decision. 

The  state  of  the  question  and  the  different  sentiments  are  well 
understood  ;*  and  never  so  little  perspicuity  in  the  decision  of 
the  Synod  of  Dort,  would  have  made  us  easily  comprehend  what 
was  their  doctrine,  which  they  were  so  much  the  more  obliged 
to,  as  the  Remonstrants,  after  their  declaration,  had  summoned 
those  that  should  complain  of  their  doctrines  being  ill-repre- 
sented by  them,  to  reject  distinctly  every  particular  wherein  they 
judged  themselves  wrongfully  accused ;  and  entreated  also  the 
Synod  to  deliver  themselves  precisely  in  respect  of  the  articles 
that  cast  such  a  blemish  on  the  whole  Reformation. 
35. —  The  Synod'' s  decision. 

If  ever  there  was  a  necessity  of  speaking  plainly,  it  was  after 
such  a  declaration  and  in  such  a  conjuncture.  Let  us  now  give 
ear  to  the  decision  of  the  Synod. 

It  pronounces  on  the  five  heads  proposed  in  four  chapters,  for, 
as  above  said,  the  third  and  fourth  head  always  went  together. 
Each  chapter  has  two  parts :  in  the  first,  they  assert :  in  the 
second,  reject  and  condemn.  This  is  the  substance  of  their 
canons,  for  so  did  they  call  the  decrees  of  this  Synod. 

36. — The  Synod's  decision  on  the  first  head. — Faith  in  the  sole  Elect :  certainty 

of  Salvation. 

Concerning  predestination  and  election  they  decided,  "  that 
the  decree  thereof  is  absolute  and  unchangeable  ;  that  God  gives 
tme  and  lively  faith  to  all  those  he  resolves  to  withdraw  from 
common  damnation,  and  to  them  only  :  that  this  faith  is  a  gift 
of  God  1  that  all  the  elect,  in  their  time,  are  assured  of  their 
election,  albeit  not  in  the  same  degree  nor  in  equal  measure ; 
that  this  assurance  is  derived  to  them,  not  from  the  fathoming 

♦  Sess.  xxxiv.  Ibid.  pp.  121  322. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  205 

of  God's  secrets,  but  from  observing  in  themselves,  with  a  holy 
pleasm'e  and  spiritual  joy,  the  infallible  fruits  of  election,  such 
as  be  true  faith,  sorrow  for  their  sins,  and  the  like ;  that  the 
sense  and  certainty  of  their  salvation  always  make  them  better; 
that  those,  who  have  not  as  yet  this  sense  and  this  certain  con- 
fidence, ought  to  desire  it ;  and,  lastly,  that  this  doctrine  should 
not  affright  any  but  those  who,  wedded  to  the  world,  are  not 
seriously  converted.'-*  Here  have  we  already  for  the  sole  elect, 
together  with  true  faith,  the  certainty  of  salvation  ;  but  the  thing 
will  unfold  itself  hereafter  much  more  clearly. 

37. — Decision  on  Infant  Baptism.  | 

The  seventeenth  article  decides,!  "  that  the  word  or  God  de- 
claring holy  the  children  of  the  faithful,  not  by  nature,  but  by 
the  covenant  wherein  they  are  comprised  together  with  their  pa- 
rents, the  believing  parents  ought  not  to  doubt  of  the  election 
and  salvation  of  their  children  that  die  in  this  infant  age." 

In  this  article  the  Synod  approves  the  doctrine  of  the  Remon- 
strants, whom  we  have  heard  say  precisely  the  same  thing :  J 
nothing,  therefore,  is  more  unquestionable  amongst  our  adver- 
saries, than  an  article  which  we  see  equally  taught  by  both  par- 
ties ;  the  sequel  v/ill  manifest  to  us  what  are  its  consequences. 

.38. — Condemnation  of  those  that  denied  the  certainty  of  Salvation. 
Amongst  the  rejected  articles,  we  find  that  which  asserts  that 
"the  certainty  of  salvation  depends  on  an  uncertain  condition  ;"§ 
that  is  to  say,  they  condemn  those  who  teach  that  one  is  sure  of 
being  saved  by  persevering  to  live  well,  but  one  is  not  sure  of 
living  well ;  which  precisely  is  the  doctrine  we  have  heard  the 
Remonstrants  teach.  The  Synod  declares  this,  "  uncertain  cer- 
tainty" absurd ;  and,  by  consequence,  establishes  an  absolute 
certainty,  which  it  endeavors  even  to  prove  from  Scripture :  but 
proofs  are  not  our  present  purpose ;  it  is  to  see  this  doctrine 
well  asserted,  viz.,  that  the  true  believer,  according  to  the  de- 
crees of  Dort,  not  only  ought  to  be  sure  of  his  salvation,  sup- 
posing he  does  his  duty  well,  but  also  ought  to  be  sure  of  doing 
it  well,  at  least,  at  the  end  of  his  life.  But  this  is  nothing  as 
yet,  and  we  shall  see  this  doctrine  decided  much  more  clearly. 

39. — Justifying  Faith  again  confessed  in  the  sole  Elect. 

Concerning  Redemption  and  the  Promise  of  Grace,  they  de- 
fine, "  that  it  is  announced  indifferently  to  all  people  ;  that  it  is 
through  their  own  fault  that  those  who  believe  it  not  do  reject 
it,  and  through  grace,  that  the  true  faithful  do  embrace  it ;  but 
they  are  the  elect  only  to  whom  God  is  resolved  to  give  justify- 
ing faith,  whereby  the  infallibly  are  saved."    Here  then,  a  second 

*  Sess.  xxxvi.  p.  249,  et  seq.     lb.  Art.  xii.  et  seq.  p.  251. 
t  Ibid.  Art.  xvii.  p.  252.  J  Sup.  n.  23.  §  Ibid.  Art  viii.  p.  254. 

VOL.  II.  18 


206  THE  HISTORY  OF  [bOOK 

time,  have  we  justifying  faith  in  the  elect  alone  :  we  must  see 
afterwards  what  those  shall  have  who  do  not  continue  to  believe 
unto  the  end. 

40. — Co-operalion,  how  admitted. 

The  summary  of  the  Fourth  Chapter  is,  that  although  God 
calls  seriously  all  those  to  whom  the  Gospel  is  proclaimed,  so 
that  if  they  perish  it  is  not  God's  fault ;  something  nevertheless 
particular  is  wrought  in  those  that  are  converted,  God  calling 
them  efficaciously,  and  giving  to  them  faith  and  repentance. 
The  sufficient  grace  of  the  Arminians,  whereby  "  Free-will  de- 
termines itself,"  is  rejected  as  a  Pelagian  tenet.*  Regenera- 
tion is  represented  as  transacted  "  without  us,"  not  by  "  the  ex- 
terior word,  or  by  moral  persuasion,"  but  by  an  operation  leaving 
it  not  "  in  the  power  of  man  to  be  regenerated  or  not^^^  to  be  con- 
verted, or  not  converted ;  and  nevertheless,  say  they  in  this 
article,  "  when  the  will  is  renewed,  it  is  not  only  pushed  on  and 
moved  by  God,  but  atcs,  being  moved  by  him,  and  it  is  man 
that  believes  and  repents." 

41. — The  Believer's  certainty. 

The  will  therefore  does  not  act  but  when  converted  and  re- 
newed. What  then,  does  it  not  act  when  one  begins  to  desire 
liis  conversion,  and  to  pray  for  the  grace  of  regeneration  1  Or 
had  you  it  already,  when  you  began  to  pray  for  it?  This  they 
ought  to  have  explained,  and  not  say  in  general.  Conversion  and 
Regeneration  is  wrought  "  without  us."  Many  other  things 
might  be  said  in  this  place,  but  our  business  is  not  disputing,  it 
is  sufficient  we  make  the  doctrine  of  the  Synod  historically  well 
understood. 

It  says,  in  the  thirteenth  article,  that  the  manner  whereby  this 
operation  of  regenerating  grace  is  wrought  in  us  is  inconceiva- 
ble :  it  is  sufficient  to  conceive  that  by  this  grace  the  believer 
"  knows  and  feels  that  he  believes  and  loves  his  Saviour."  He 
"  knows  and  feels  ;"  here  have  you  what  is  most  certain  within 
the  compass  of  perception,  to  know  and  feel. 
42. — Sequel  of  the  same  subject. 

We  read  in  the  sixteenth  article,^  that  as  sin  hath  not  robbed 
man  of  his  nature,  nor  of  his  understanding,  nor  of  his  will ;  so 
regenerating  grace  acts  not  in  him  "  as  in  a  stump  or  log  of 
wood ;"  it  preserves  to  the  will  "  its  properties,  and  does  not 
force  it  in  spite  of  itself ;"  that  is,  it  does  not  make  it  "  will  with- 
out willing."  What  strange  theology !  Are  not  men  resolved 
to  puzzle  every  thing,  who  thus  weakly  express  themselves  on 
free-will  ? 

43. — Habits  infused. 

Amongst  the  rejected  errors,  I  find  that  which  teaches,  J  "  that 
*  Art.  xii.  p.  265.  f  Ibid.  |  Ibid.  vi.  p.  267. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  207 

in  the  true  conversion  of  man,  God  cannot  communicate  quali- 
ties, habits,  and  gifts  by  infusion,  and  that  faith  by  which  we  are 
first  converted,  and  from  which  we  are  called  faithful,  is  not  a 
gift  and  quality  by  God  infused,  but  only  an  act  of  man."  I  am 
glad  to  hear  the  infusion  of  these  new  qualities  and  habits  ;  it 
will  be  of  great  service  to  us  in  order  to  explain  the  true  idea 
of  justification,  and  to  show  by  what  means  it  may  be  obtained 
of  God.  For  I  do  not  believe  it  can  be  doubted  but  that,  in 
those  who  are  come  to  the  age  of  understanding,  it  is  an  act  of 
fiiith  inspired  by  God  which  obtains  for  us  the  grace  to  receive 
the  habit  of  it,  with  that  of  other  virtues.  Yet  the  infusion  of 
this  habit  will  be  nevertheless  gratuitous,  as  will  be  seen  in  due 
time.  But  let  us  proceed,  and  come  now  to  the  last  chapter, 
which  is  the  most  material,  because  the  reproaches  of.  the  Re- 
monstrants concerning  the  certainty  of  salvation  and  the  inamis- 
sibility  of  justice  were  there  to  be  answered  fully  and  distinctly. 
44. — Justice  not  to  be  lost. — Monstrous  doctrine  of  the  Synod. 

Concerning  inamissibility,  this  is  what  they  say,'*''^  vizj^,  "  That 
in  certain  particular  actions  the  true  faithful  may  sometimes 
withdraw  themselves,  and  do  so  in  effect,  by  their  vices,  from 
the  guidance  of  grace,  to  follow  concupiscence,  even  so  far  as 
to  fall  into  atrocious  crimes  ;  and  do,  by  these  enormous  sins, 
offend  God,  render  themselves  guilty  of  death,  intermpt  the  ex- 
ercise of  faith,  greatly  wound  their  consciences,  and  sometimes 
lose,  for  a  while,  the  sense  of  grace, ''^  O  God,  is  it  possible,  in 
this  detestable  state,  they  should  only  "  lose  the  sense  of  graced"" 
and  not  grace  itself,  and  this,  too,  but  "  sometimes  /"f  But  it  is 
not  yet  time  to  exclaim ;  here  is  much  worse  :  "God,  in  those 
dismal  falls,  does  not  entirely  deprive  them  of  his  holy  Spirit,  nor 
suffers  them  to  fall  so  as  to  foifeit  the  grace  of  adoption  and  the 
state  of  justification^  nor  so  as  to  commit  the  sin  tmto  death, 
nor  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  be  damned."  Whosoever 
therefore  is  once  truly  faithful,  and  regenerated  by  grace,  not 
only  shall  not  perish  in  his  crimes,  but  at  the  very  time  he  aban- 
dons himself  to  them,  "  does  not  fall  from  the  grace  of  adoption, 
and  the  state  of  justification.''^  Could  Jesus  Christ  be  associated 
with  Belial,  grace  with  sin,  in  a  more  flagrant  manner  1 
45. —  What  is  the  sin  a  true  Believer  cannot  fall  into  ? 

The  Synod,  indeed,  seems  willing  to  preserve  the  faithful 
from  some  crimes,  when  it  says,  "  they  are  not  so  far  abandoned 
as  to  fall  into  the  sin  unto  death,  or  against  the  Holy  Ghost," 
which  the  Scripture  says  is  not  to  be  forgiven ;  but  if  they  un- 
derstand any  other  sin  by  this,  than  that  of  final  impenitence,  I 
am  at  a  loss  to  know  what  it  can  be,  there  being  no  such  sinner, 
what  disorders  soever  he  may  have  been  guilty  of,  that  should 
*  Art.  iv.  V.  p.  271.  t  Il^id.  vi.  et  seq. 


208  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

not  be  made  to  hope  the  forgiveness  of  them.  Let  us,  however, 
leave  to  the  Synod  to  determine  what  other  explanation  of  this 
sin  it  may  please  to  fancy  ;  it  is  sufficient  we  see  plainly,  accord- 
ing to  its  doctrine,  that  all  crimes  possible  to  be  named,  for 
example,  an  adultery  as  long  continued,  and  a  murder  as  much 
premeditated  as  that  of  David's  heresy,  idolatry,  even  with  all 
its  abominations  which  the  Synod  evidently  allows  the  true  be- 
liever may  fall  into,  are  compatible  "  with  the  grace  of  adoption 
and  the  state  of  justification." 

46. —  The  Synod  speaks  plainly. 

Nor  can  it  be  said  by  this  state  the  Synod  understands  only 
the  right  of  salvation  still  remaining  in  the  true  believer,  namely, 
according  to  the  Synod,  in  the  predestinated,  in  virtue  of  pre- 
destination ;  for  on  the  contrary,  the  matter  here  in  deliberation 
concerns  the  immediate  right  one  has  to  salvation  by  actual 
regeneration  and  conversion,  and  concerns  the  state  whereby 
one  is,  I  do  not  say  destined  to,  but  really  in  possession  as  well 
of  the  tru^  faith  as  of  justification.  In  a  word,  the  matter  in 
debate  i^ not  v/hether  you  shall  one  day  have  this  grace,  but 
whether,  after  having  had  it,  you  can  forfeit  it  one  single  m.o- 
ment;  the  Synod  decides  you  cannot.  Remonstrants,  com- 
plain not,  you  have  your  answer,  at  least,  in  plain  terms,  as  you 
desired  it,  and  all  the  pernicious  doctrine  you  say  is  believed  in 
the  party  which  you  accuse,  all  that  you  reject  therein  with  ab- 
horrence is  decided  by  them  in  express  terms. 

47. — The  great  words  "  totally'''  and  ^^jinally.^^ 

But,  to  remove  all  equivocation,  we  must  see  in  the  Synod* 
these  essential  words,  "  totally"  and  "  finally,"  whereon,  I  have 
shown,  the  whole  dispute  depended.  We  must  see,  I  say, 
whether  it  allows  the  Remonstrants  to  assert,  that  a  true  believer 
*'  may  fall  totally  and  finally  from  the  state  of  justification." 
The  Synod,  to  leave  no  doubt  of  its  sentiment  as  opposite  to 
the  total  loss,  says,  "  that  the  immortal  seed,  whereby  the  true 
faithful  are  regenerated,  abides  always  in  them  in  spite  of  their 
fall."  As  opposite  to  the  final  loss,  the  same  Synod  says,!  that 
the  reconciled,  one  day,  "  shall  feel  grace  anew ;"  they  shall 
not  recover  it ;  no,  the  Synod  is  sure  not  to  say  that,  "  they 
shall  feel  it"  anew.  In  this  manner,  proceeds  the  Synod, 
it  happens  that  "  neither  do  they  lose  totaihj  the  faith  and  grace, 
nor  do  they  remmn  finally  in  their  sin,  so  as  to  perish  in  it." 

Here,  methinks,  is  enough  said  for  inamissibility.  Let  us 
see  as  to  certainty. 

48. — Certainty  of  salvation,  qfvjhat  kind. 

"  The  true  faithful,"  says  the  Synod,J  "  m-e^y  be  certain,  and 
are  so,  of  their  salvation  and  perseverance,  according  to  the 
*  S.  n.  27.        t  Art.  vii.  \dii.  p.  272.      |  lb.  Art.  ix..  pp.  272,  273. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  209 

measure  of  faith  wherewith  they  believe  with  ceriainty  that  they 
are,  and  abide,  hving  members  of  the  Church ;  that  they  have 
forgiveness  of  their  sins,  and  Ufe  eternal :  a  certainty  which 
does  not  accrue  to  them  from  a  particular  revelation,  but  from 
faith  in  the  promises  which  God  hath  revealed  in  his  word,  and 
by  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  lastly,  by  a  good  con- 
science, and  a  holy  and  serious  application  to  good  works." 
49. — Ml  uncertainty  a  temptation. 
To  leave  nothing  unsaid,  it  adds,*  "  that  in  the  temptations 
and  doubts  of  the  flesh,  which  we  are  to  contend  with,  we  do 
not  always  feel  this  fullness  of  faith  and  this  certainty  of  perse- 
verance :"  to  the  end  that,  as  often  as  ever  you  feel  some  doubt, 
and  dare  not  promise  yourself  with  an  entire  certainty  to  perse- 
vere always  in  your  duty,  you  may  look  on  yourself  obliged  to 
reckon  this  doubt  among  the  motions  of  the  flesh,  and  the  temp- 
tations you  are  to  fight  against. 

50. — Totally  and  finally. 
Among  the  rejected  errors  this  afterwards  is  reckoned,^  viz. 
"  that  the  true  faithful  may  fall,  and   do   often  fall,  totaUij  and 
fnally  from  justifying  faith,  from  grace  and  salvation,  and  that, 
during  this  life,  you  cannot  have  any  security  of  future  perse- 
verance without  special  revelation."     They  declare  this  doctrine 
brings  back  the  doubts  of  Papists,  because  this  certainty,  with- 
out special  revelation,  was  condemned  in  the  Council  of  Trent. 
51. — Hoiv  man  justified  remains  guilty  of  death. 
It  may  be  asked,  how  they  reconcile  with  the  doctrine  of  Ina- 
missibility,  that  which  is  said  in  the  Synod,J  viz.  that  by  great 
crimes,  the  faithful  committing  them,  "  render  themselves  guilty 
of  death."     This  is  what  easily  is  brought  to  bear  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  new  Reformation,  where  it  is  maintained  that  the 
true  behever,  how  much  soever  regenerated,  remains  always, 
by  concupiscence,  "  guilty  of  death,"  not  only  in  his  great  and 
less  sins,  but  also  in  his  good  works  ;  so  tliat  this  state,  render- 
ing us  guilty  of  death,  is  no  hindrance,  according  to  the  terms  of 
the  Synod,  to  our  abiding  in  the  "  state  of  justification  and  grace." 
52. — The  self-contradiction  of  the  Calvinian  Doctrine. 
But  then,  have  we  not  said  that  our  Reformed  could  not  deny, 
nor  in  effect  did  deny,  but  that,  should  one  die  in  these  crimes 
without  doing  penance,  he  would  be  damned?   True  it  is,  the 
greatest   part  confess    it ;    and   although   the    Synod    decided 
nothing  in  body  concerning  this  difficulty,  it  was  proposed  there, 
as  we  shall  see,  by  some  of  the  Opiners.     In  good  truth,  it  is 
wonderous  strange  men  can  remain  in  an  error  containing  so 
inevitable  and  manifest  a  contradiction  as  that  is  which  acknowl- 
*S.n.27.  Artii.  f  Art.iii.p.274.Conc.Trid.Sess.vi.c.xii.Can.xvi.  tS.n.42. 
VOL.    II.  18  * 


210  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

edges  a  state  of  grace,  in  which,  nevertheless,  one  would  be 
damned  should  he  die  therein..  But  many  other  contradictions 
are  there  in  this  doctrine  ;  here  is  one  unquestionably  not  less 
palpable  than  the  other.  In  the  new  Reformation,  true  faith  is 
inseparable  from  the  love  of  God  and  good  works,  the  necessary 
fruits  thereof;  it  is  the  most  steady  dogma  of  this  religion  and 
here  you  see,  nevertheless,  in  opposition  to  this  dogma,  true 
faith,  not  only  without  good  works,  but  also  in  the  greatest 
crimes.  Have  patience,  this  is  not  all:  I  see  another  contra- 
diction not  less  manifest  in  the  new  Reformation,  even  by  the 
Synod's  own  decree  :*  All  children  of  the  faithful  are  holy,  and 
their  salvation  certain.  Therefore,  in  this  state,  they  are  truly 
justified  :  therefore  they  cannot  fall  from  grace,  and  every  indi- 
vidual of  the  Reformation  will  be  predestinated  :  nor  can  one 
believer,  which  is  still  more  strange,  have  a  child  that  is  not 
holy  and  predestinated  like  himself:  thus  all  their  posterity  are 
evidently  predestinated,  and  never  can  a  reprobate  spring  from 
one  elect.  Who  of  them  all  will  dare  to  say  it  1  And  yet,  who 
of  them  can  deny,  that  so  visible  and  so  strange  an  absurdity  is 
clearly  contained  in  the  principles  of  the  Synod  and  the  doctrine 
of  inamissibility  1  It  is  therefore  all  over  teeming  with  manifest 
absurdities,  all  over  jarring  with  horrid  contradictions  ;  nor  can 
it  indeed  be  otherwise  than  the  necessary  result  of  error  thus 
always  to  contradict  itself. 

53. — ^U  error  contradicts  itself. 
There  is  no  error  but  must  fall  into  self-contradiction  some 
way  or  other ;  but  see  what  befalls  man  possessed  with  strong 
prejudice.  He  first  strives,  what  he  can,  to  avoid  seeing  this 
inevitable  and  glaring  contradiction  :  if  this  cannot  be  done,  he 
looks  on  it  with  a  -prepossession,  that  does  not  allow  him  to 
form  a  right  judgment  of  it;  he  thinks  to  fence  against  it  by 
soothing  himself  with  frothy  reasoning  and  fine  words  :  dazzled 
with  some  specious  principle  to  which  he  is  strongly  wedded, 
he  is  resolved  never  to  forsake  it.  Eutyches  and  his  followers 
durst  not  say,  Jesus  Christ  was  not  at  the  same  time  true  God 
and  true  man  :  but  fond  of  that  unity  ill-understood,  which  they 
imagined  in  Jesus  Christ,  they  would  have  both  natures  con- 
founded in  this  union,  and  were  pleased  and  gloried  in  removing 
by  this  means  to  a  greater  distance  than  all  others  (though  it 
were  even  to  excess)  from  Nestorius's  heresy  which  divided 
the  Son  of  God.  Thus  do  men  entangle,  thus  do  they  prepos- 
sess themselves,  thus  do  the  prepossessed,  with  Wind  determin- 
ation, lead  the  van  and  draw  after  them  the  giddy  vulgar,  with- 
out being  willing,  or  able  to  understand,  as  says  the  Apostle,^ 
"  either  what  they  say  themselves,  or  whereof  they  affirm"  with 
*  S.  n.  36.  J  1  Tim.  i.  7. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  211 

such  assurance.     This  is  what  constitutes  all  opinionists  ;  this 
is  the  pit  all  heretics  fall  into. 

54. — Certainty  of  salvation,  a  false  allurement. 
Our  adversaries  frame  to  themselves  an  object  of  infinite 
comfort  in  the  certainty  they  will  needs  be  in  of  their  eternal  sal- 
vation. Do  not  expect  they  ever  will  regard,  with  candid  equity 
or  attention,  what  may  deprive  them  of  this  certainty.  If  to 
maintain  it  they  must  be  obliged  to  say,  one  is  sure  not  to  die 
in  sin  though  he  fall  into  it  with  malice  prepense,  nay,  though 
he  contract  a  detestable  habit  thereof;  this  they  will  say.  If 
they  must  exaggerate,  beyond  measure,  this  text  of  St.  Paul,* 
*'  The  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  without  repentance,"  and 
say,  God  never  takes  away  entirely,  nor  in  substance,  what  he 
has  given  ;  this  they  will  say,  happen  what  will,  whatever  con- 
tradictions you  may  show  them,  whatever  inconsistency,  what 
dismal  consequence  soever  may  result  from  their  doctrine  : 
otherwise,  besides  losing  the  pleasure  of  their  certainty  and  the 
charms  discovered  by  them  in  the  novelty  of  this  tenet,  they 
must  also  be  forced  to  own  that  they  were  in  the  wrong  as  to 
the  point  they  looked  upon  the  most  essential  of  their  Reforma- 
tion, and  the  Church  of  Rome,  so  much  censured  and  hated  by 
them,  was  in  the  right. 

55. — Whether  the  Sy7iod  were  ill-xuider stood  in  respect  to  Iiiamissihility,  and 
xohether  the  Certainty  it  proposes  be  no  more  than  confidence. 

But,  perchance,  this  certainty,  which  they  teach,  is  nothing 
else  at  bottom  than  that  trust  v/hich  we  admit.  Would  to  God 
it  were  !  Nobody  denies  this  trust :  the  Lutherans  maintained 
it,  yet  the  Calvinists  told  them  a  hundred  times,  that  something 
more  was  requisite.  But  without  going  forth  from  the  Synod, 
the  Arminians  admitted  this  trust ;  for  unquestionably  they  never 
said  that  a  believer  fallen  into  sin,  v/hich  he  repents  of,  should 
despair  of  his  salvation.  The  Synod  nevertheless  condemns 
them,  because  that,  satisfied  with  this  hope,  they  reject  certainty. 
The  Catholics  in  fine  admitted  this  trust,  and  the  holy  perse- 
verance, which  the  Council  of  Trent |  will  have  us  acknowledge 
as  God's  special  gift,  it  will  have  us  expect  with  confidence 
from  his  infinite  bounty  :  and  yet,  because  it  rejects  absolute 
certainty,^  the  Synod  condemns  it,  and  accuses  the  Remon- 
strants, who  likewise  condemned  this  certainty,  of  falling  by  this 
means  into  the  doubts  of  Popery.  Had  the  dogma  of  absolute 
certainty  and  inamissibility  raised  as  much  horror  in  the  Synod 
as  so  hideous  a  doctrine  should  excite  naturally  in  all  minds, 
the  ministers  that  composed  this  assembly  would  not  have  had 
mouths  enough  to  proclaim  throughout  all  the  universe,  that  the 
Remonstrants,  the  Lutherans,  and  the  Catholics,  laying  such  a 

*  Rom.  xi.  29.  f  Cone.  Trid.  Sess.  vi.  J  Can.  xv.  xvi.  xxii. 


212  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

blasphemy  to  their  charge,  did  cakimniate  them  ;  and  all  Europe 
would  have  rung  v/ith  their  clamor :  but  on  the  contrary,  so 
far  were  they  from  defending  themselves  against  this  certainty 
and  inamissibility  objected  to  them  by  the  Remonstrants,  that 
they  define  it  expressly,  and  condemn  the  Remonstrants  for  de- 
nying it.  When  they  think  themselves  calumniated,  they  are 
not  at  all  sparing  of  their  complaints.  They  complain,  for  in- 
stance, at  the  close  of  their  Synod,*  that  their  enemies,  and 
amongst  the  rest,  the  Remonstrants  accuse  them  "  of  making 
God  the  author  of  sin ;  and  of  the  reprobation  of  men  without 
any  regard  to  sin  :  of  making  him  precipitate  the  children  of 
the  faithful  into  damnation,  so  as  that  all  the  prayers  of  the 
Church,  and  even  baptism  itself,  are  not  able  to  withdraw  them 
from  it."  Why  do  they  not  complain,  in  like  manner,  they  are 
wrongfully  accused  of  admitting  this  same  certainty  and  inamis- 
sibility. "  It  is  true,"  they  say  in  this  very  place,|  they  are 
accused  "  of  inspiring  men  with  carnal  security,  by  affirming 
that  no  crime  prejudices  the  salvation  of  the  elect,  and  that  they 
may,  with  full  security,  commit  the  most  execrable."  But  is 
this  a  sufficient  explanation  from  men  that  were  asked  for  a 
plain  and  direct  answer?  What,  does  it  not  suffice  them  then 
for  an  evasion,  that  they  acknowledged  crimes,  for  instance, 
"  the  sin  even  unto  death  and  against  the  Holy  Ghost,"  what- 
ever it  may  be,  which  the  elect  and  true  faithful  never  fall  into  ? 
And  if  it  was  their  sentiment  that  other  crimes  were  equally  in- 
compatible with  true  faith  and  the  state  of  grace,  could  they  not 
have  said  as  much  in  express  terms,  whereas,  in  express  terms, 
they  assert  the  contrary  1 

56. — Calvin'' s  Dodnne  expressly  defined  by  the  Synod. 
Conclude  we,  therefore,  that,  of  the  three  articles  wherein  we 
have  made  the  Calvinian  justification  to  consist,  the  two  first 
which  already  were  insinuated  in  the  Confessions  of  Faith, 
namely,  absolute  certainty  of  predestination,  and  the  impossi- 
bility of  forfeiting  finally  faith  and  grace  once  received,  are  ex- 
pressly defined  in  the  synod  of  Dort ;  and  that  the  third  article, 
where  the  question  is,  whether  a  true  believer  may  at  least  lose 
for  a  while,  and  during  his  continuance  in  sin,  justifying  grace 
and  true  faith,  although  not  expressed  in  any  confession  of  faith, 
is  likewise  decided  conformably  to  Calvin's  doctrine  and  the 
spirit  of  the  new  reformation.  J 

57. — Peter  de  JMoulhi's  Sentiments  approved  by  the  Sy^iod. 
One  may  also  know  the  sentiment  of  the  whole  Synod  by  that 
of  the  renowned  Peter  du  Moulin,  minister  of  Paris  ;    allowed 

*  Syn.  Dord.  Concl.  Sess.  136.  p.  275.  f  Ibid.  J  S.  1.  ix.  n.  2,  3, 

et  seq.  Conf.  de  Foi  de  Fr.  Art.  x^dii.  xix.  xx.  xxi.  xxii.  Dim.  18,  19,  36. 
S.  1.  ix.  Conf.  Bilg.  Art.  xxiv.     Synt.  Gen.  part  i.  p.  139. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  213 

by  all  the  world  to  be  unquestionably  the  most  rigorous  Calvinist 
of  his  time,  and  the  most  wedded  to  the  doctrine  which  Gomar 
defended  against  Arminius.  He  sent  to  Dort  his  judgment  on 
this  matter,  which  was  read  and  approved  by  the  whole  Synod, 
and  inserted  in  the  acts.  He  declares,  that  he  had  not  leisure 
to  handle  all  the  questions  :*  but  lays  down  the  whole  substance 
of  the  Synod's  doctrine  v/hen  he  decides,  that  none  is  justified 
but  he  that  is  glorified  :  whereby  he  condemns  the  Arminians, 
in  that  they  teach,|  "  there  are  men  justified  that  lose  the  faith, 
and  are  damned."  And  still  more  clearly  in  these  words  :;}; 
*'  Although  the  doubt  of  salvation  enter  sometimes  into  the 
minds  of  the  true  faithful,  God  nevertheless  commands  us  in  his 
word  to  have  a  certainty  thereof,  and  we  must  tend  with  all  our 
might  to  this  certainty,  at  which  we  should  not  doubt  many  do 
arrive ;  and  whoever  is  assured  of  his  salvation,  is  so,  at  the 
same  time,  that  God  will  never  abandon  him,  and  that  he  shall 
thus  persevere  even  to  the  end."  One  cannot  more  clearly  re- 
gard doubting  as  a  temptation  and  weakness,  nor  certainty,  as 
enjoined  by  God's  commandment.  Thus  the  faithful  are  not 
assured  that  they  shall  not  fall  into  the  worst  of  crimes,  and  con- 
tinue in  them  a  long  while,  like  David :  but  are  nevertheless 
assured,  "  God  never  will  abandon  them,  and  that  they  shall 
persevere  even  to  the  end. "  This  is  an  abridgment  of  the  Synod : 
accordingly,  it  was  resolved  by  the  assembly  to  return  Du  Mou- 
lin thanks  for  the  very  accurate  judgment  passed  by  him  on  this 
subject,  and  for  his  assent  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Synod. 

58. — Q,%iestion  lohether  the  certainty  of  Salvation  be  a  certainty  of  Faith. 

Some  would  doubt  whether  this  certainty  required  by  the  Sy- 
nod in  every  believer  for  his  salvation,  be  a  certainty  of  faith  : 
but  their  doubt  will  cease,  if  they  do  but  observe,  that  the  cer- 
tainty in  question,  is  always  expressed  by  the  word  "  Believe," 
which  in  the  Synod  is  taken  no  otherwise  than  for  true  faith ;  to 
which  add,  that  this  certainty,  accT)rding  to  the  same  Synod,  is 
nothing  else  than  the  belief  of  the  promises  applied  by  each  in- 
dividual to  himself  and  to  his  eternal  salvation,  with  a  certain 
feeling  in  the  heart  of  the  sincerity  of  his  faith ;  so  that,  to  the 
end  no  kind  of  certainty  may  be  wanting,  you  have  that  of  faith 
joined  to  that  of  experience  and  feeling. 

59. — The  Sentiment  of  the  Divines  of  Great  Britain. 

Of  all  the  Opiners,  those  that  best  explain  the  sense  of  the 
Synod,  are  the  Divines  of  Great  Britain :  for  after  confessing, 
with  all  the  rest,  a  kind  of  doubt  in  the  beUever  concerning  his 
salvation,  but  a  doubt  that  always  proceeds  from  temptation, 
they  explain  very  clearly, §  "  how  that  after  the  temptation,  the 

*  Sess.  ciii.  civ.  pp.  289,  300.  f  Ibid.  p.  291.  X  Ibid.  300.  §  Theolog. 
Mag.  Brit,  c.  de  persev.  cert,  quoad  nos.  Th.  iii.  p.  218.     Ibid.Th.  iv.  p.  219. 


214  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

act  whereby  one  believes  that  God  looks  upon  him  with  the 
ejes  of  mercy,  and  that  he  shall  infalhbly  possess  eternal  life,  is 
not  an  act  of  dubious  opinion,  or  of  conjectural  hope,  wherein 
one  might  be  deceived,  cuifalsum  subesse  potest ;  but  an  act  of 
a  true  and  lively  faith  excited  and  sealed  in  our  hearts  by  the 
spirit  of  adoption :"  wherein  these  Divines  seem  to  advance 
further  than  the  English  Confession  of  Faith,  which,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  looks  as  if  it  designed  to  avoid  speaking  so  clearly 
"  on  the  certainty  of  salvation."* 

60. — These  Divines  believed  that  Justice  could  not  he  forfeited. — Contradiction 

of  their  Doctrine. 

Some  have  thought  that  these  English  Divines  were  not  of 
the  common  opinion  in  respect  to  justice  attributed  to  the  faith- 
ful fallen  into  grievous  crimes  whilst  they  continue  in  them  like 
to  David  ;  and  what  may  occasion  this  doubt  is,  that  these  doc- 
tors decide  formally,  "  that  these  faithful  are  in  the  state  of  dam- 
nation, and  would  be  damned,  should  they  die  therein  :"|  whence 
it  follows,  that  they  are  fallen  from  the  grace  of  justification,  at 
least  for  that  time.  But  this  is  one  of  those  places  which  in- 
volve all  such  as  err  in  necessary  contradictions :  for  these 
Divines  see  themselves  obliged,  by  their  erroneous  principles, 
to  acknowledge,  on  one  side,  that  the  faithful,  thus  plunged  into 
crimes,  would  be  damned  should  they  then  die ;  and  on  the  other, 
"  that  they  do  not  fall  from  the  state  of  justification."  J 

61. — That  Faith  and  Charity  subsist  amidst  the  greatest  Crimes. 

Nor  must  one  persuade  himself,  they  here  confound  justifica- 
tion with  predestination  :  for,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  what  they  dis- 
tinguish most  expressly ;  and  say,§  that  these  faithful,  plunged 
into  crimes,  not  only  are  not  fallen  from  their  predestination, 
which  is  true  of  all  the  elect,  but,  "  they  are  not  fallen  from 
the  faith,  nor  from  that  celestial  seed  of  regeneration  and  those 
fundamental  gifts,  without  which,  spiritual  life  can  in  no  wise 
subsist ;  ||  insomuch,  that  it  is  impossible  the  gifts  of  charity  and 
faith  should  entirely  be  extinguished  in  their  hearts.  They  do 
not  entirely  lose  the  faitli,  sanctity,  adoption  :1T  they  abide  in  this 
universal  justification,  which  is  justification  in  its  most  proper 
sense,  which  no  particular  crime  can  exclude  them  from  :  they 
abide  in  this  justification,  from  which  interior  renovation  and 
sanctification  are  inseparable  ;"**  in  a  word,  they  are  saints, 
who,  if  they  died,  would  be  damned. 

62. — What  it  ivas  that  remained  in  the  Faithful  guilty  of  grievous  crimes. — 
The  Doctnne  of  those  of  Embden. 

They  were  extremely  puzzled  to  explain,  according  to  these 

*  Conf.  AncT.  Art.  xvii.  Synt.  Gen.  i.  p.  102.     S.  1.  x.  n.  23.  f  Theol. 

Mag.  Brit.  Th!  iii.  iv.         I  lb.  Th.  ii.  p.  212.       §  lb.  Th.  v.  p.  213.  vi.  214. 
if  lb.  215.         II  Ibid.  Th.  vii.     Ibid.  Th.  vi.         **  Ibid.  pp.  214,  218. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  215 

principles,  what  it  was  that  remained  in  the  faithful  who  had  run 
themselves  into  criminal  disorders.  Those  of  Embden  were 
agreed,*  "  actual  faith  could  not  remain  in  them,  and  that  it  was 
inconsistent  with  the  consent  to  grievous  sins."  TV  hat  they  did 
not  lose,  "  was  habitual  faith,  that,"  said  they,  "  which  subsists 
in  man  whilst  he  sleeps,  or  doth  not  act :"  but  then,  "  this  ha- 
bitual faith  infused  into  man  by  preaching  and  the  use  of  the 
sacraments,  is  the  true  living  and  justifying  faith  ;"  whence  they 
concluded  that  the  faithful  did  not,  for  all  these  enormous  crimes, 
lose  "  either  justice  or  the  Holy  Ghost :"  and  when  they  were 
asked  whether  it  might  not  as  well  be  said,  they  lost  "  faith  and 
the  Holy  Ghost"  afterwards  to  recover  them,  as  to  say,  they  only 
lost  "the  feeling  and  energy"  thereof;!  they  answered,  the  faith- 
ful ought  not  to  be  deprived  of  the  comfort  accruing  to  them 
from  the  impossibihty  of  their  ever  losing  "  either  faith  or  the 
Holy  Ghost,  what  crime  soever  they  fell  into  against  their  con- 
science." "  For  this,"  said  they,  "  would  be  but  a  cold  com- 
fort, to  tell  them,  you  have  entirely  lost  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
yet,  perchance,  God  will  adopt  and  regenerate  you  again,  that 
you  may  be  reconciled  to  him."  Thus,  what  sins  soever  the 
behever  may  give  himself  up  to,  contrary  to  his  conscience,  they 
are  so  favorable  to  him,  that  to  comfort  him,  they  are  not  satis- 
fied with  leaving  him  the  hopes  of  a  future  return  to  the  state 
of  grace  ;J  but  he  must  also  have  the  comfort  of  actually  being 
in  it,  his  crimes  notwithstanding. 

63. —  What  it  was  the  Holy  Ghost  did  in  the  Faithful  guilty  of  grievous  sins. — 
Strange  idea  of  Christian  justice. 

The  question  still  remains,  what  did  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  these  believers  thus  abandoned  to  sin,  and  whether  or  no  they 
were  altogether  without  action  in  them  ]  It  was  answered,  they 
were  not  without  action  ;  and  the  effect  produced  by  them,  for 
example  in  David,  was,  that  he  did  not  sin  "  whole  and  entire  : 
Pecavit  David,  at  non  totus  ;"§  there  being  a  certain  sin  which 
he  did  not  commit.  But  if  you  urged  so  far  as  to  ask,  what 
could  be  "  this  sin  the  whole  man  falls  into,"  and  the  faithful  are 
never  guilty  of?  they  answered,  |1  "  it  was  not  a  particular  fall 
of  the  Christian  man  into  such  or  such  a  crime  against  the  first 
or  second  table,  but  a  total  and  universal  defection  and  apostacy 
from  the  Gospel  truth,  whereby  man  offends  not  God  in  part 
and  by  halves,  but,  by  an  obstinate  contempt,  despises  his  whole 
majesty,  and  absolutely  excludes  himself  from  grace."  Thus, 
till  you  are  arrived  to  this  obstinate  contempt  of  God,  and  to 
this  universal  apostacy,  you  still  have  the  "  comfort  of  being 

*  Jud.  Theo.  Embd.  de  V.  Art.  Th.  i.  n.  44,  52,  pp.  266,  267.  Ibid.  n.  45. 
Ibid.  270.  j  Ibid.  n.  50,  51.  t  Ibid.  n.  30.  p.  265. 

J  §  Ibid.  n.  54,  p.  267.  ||  Ibid.  n.  60.  p.  268. 


216  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

holy,  of  being  justified,  and  regenerated,"  and  of  having  the 
Holy  Ghost  dwelling  in  you. 

64. — The  Opinion  of  those  of  Bremen. 
Corresponding  to  this  is  the  sentiment  of  Bremen,  when  they 
say,*  "  that  those  who  are  once  truly  regenerated,  never  wander 
to  that  degree  as  to  stray  entirely  from  God  by  a  universal  apos- 
tacy,  so  as  to  hate  him  as  their  enemy,  to  sin  like  the  Devil  with 
a  studied  mahce,  and  to  deprive  themselves  of  heavenly  gifts  : 
wherefore  they  never  lose  absolutely  God's  grace  and  favor  ;" 
so  that  they  remain  in  this  grace  and  favor,  well  regenerated, 
well  justified,  provided  only  they  be  not  the  declared  enemies 
of  God,  and  quite  as  wicked  as  the  Devil. 

65. — Whether  the  Synod  can  be  excused  from  these  excesses. — The  unanimous 
consent  of  all  the  Opiners. 

So  great  are  these  excesses,  that  the  Protestants  are  con- 
founded at  them ;  nay,  there  have  been  some  Catholics  that 
could  not  persuade  themselves  the  Synod  was  guilty  of  them. 
Nevertheless,  here  have  you  historically,  with  the  decrees  of  the 
Synod,  the  votes  of  the  principal  Opiners. "j"  And  that  there 
might  be  no  doubt,  in  respect  to  those  of  all  the  rest,  besides 
w^hat  is  inserted  in  the  Acts  of  the  Synod,  that  every  thing  was 
there  decided  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the  voices,  not  one 
excepted,  I  have  expressly  related  the  opinions,  wherein  those 
that  are  willing  to  excuse  the  Synod  of  Dort  find  the  greatest 
moderation. 

66. — The  Sanctification  of  all  baptized  Children  cmxfessed  in  the  Syjiod,  and 
the  consequence  of  this  doctrine. 

Besides  these  important  points,  we  see  a  fourth  expressly  de- 
cided in  the  Synod  ;  and  it  is  that  of  the  sanctity  of  all  children 
descending  from  the  faithful.  There  have  been  different  ex- 
planations of  this  article  in  the  Acts  of  the  new  Reformation. 
We  have  seen  this  sanctity  of  children  formally  established  in 
the  Catechism  of  the  Calvinists  of  France,  and  there  it  is  said 
expressly,  that  all  children  of  the  faithful  are  sanctified,  and  born 
in  the  Covenant ;  yet,  we  have  seen  the  contrary  in  the  agree- 
ment of  those  of  Geneva  with  the  Swiss,  and  the  sanctification 
of  infants,  even  baptized,  is  there  restrained  to  the  predestinated 
alone.  Beza  seems  to  have  followed  this  restriction  in  the 
above-cited  exposition :  but  the  Synod  of  Dort  pronounces  in 
favor  of  the  sanctity  of  all  children  born  of  faithful  parents,  and 
permits  not  the  parents  to  doubt  of  their  salvation ;  an  article 
from  which  we  have  seen  it  follow  demonstratively,  according 
to  the  principles  of  the  Synod,  that  all  the  children  of  the  faith- 
ful, and  all  the  posterity  of  these  children  to  the  end  of  time, 

*  Jud.  Brem.  de  V.  Art.  n.  32,  33.  pp.  254,  255. 
\  Sess.  cxxv.  cxxx.  et  prsef.  ad  Ecc. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  217 

should  their  race  continue  so  long,  are  of  the  number  of  the 
predestinated.* 

67. — Procedure  of  the  Synod. — Petition  of  the  Remonstrants  complaining  that 
they  are  judged  by  their  Adversaries. 

Whether  all  these  decisions,  which  seem  so  authentic,  be  so 
certainly  fundamental  in  the  new  Reformation,  as  to  deprive  of 
salvation  and  cut  off  from  the  Church  all  those  that  reject  them, 
is  what  we  are  to  examine  by  setting  forth  the  procedure  of  the 
Council. 

The  first  thing  I  observe  therein,  is  a  petition  preferred  by  the 
Remonstrants,  representing  to  the  Synod|  that  they  have  been 
condemned,  treated  as  Heretics,  and  excommunicated  by  the 
Anti-Remonstrants,  their  colleagues  and  parties  ;  that  they  are 
pastors  like  the  rest,  and  so  naturally  ought  to  have  a  seat  in 
the  Synod  together  with  them  :  if  they  are  to  be  excluded  from 
it  as  parties  in  the  cause,  their  plaintiffs  ought  to  be  excluded 
from  it  no  less  than  they — otherwise,  they  would  be  both  judges 
and  parties  at  the  same  time,  which  of  all  procedures  is  the 
most  unjust. 

68. — They  employ  the  same  arguments  which  the  whole  Protestant  party  insisted 

on  against  the  Church. 

These  were  manifestly  the  same  reasons  for  which  all  the 
Protestants  had  excepted  against  the  Council  of  the  Catholics  ; 
for  which  the  Zuinglians  in  particular  had  opposed  the  Synod 
of  the  Ubiquitarians,  by  whom  they  were  condemned  at  Jena, 
as  before  seen.  The  Remonstrants  did  not  fail  to  quote  these 
examples.  They  instanced  chiefly  the  complaints  made  against 
the  Council  of  Trent,  when  all  Protestants  exclaimed,^  "  We 
will  have  a  free  Council  ;  a  Council  we  may  be  present  at  to- 
gether with  the  rest ;  a  Council  that  comes  unbiased  ;  a  Council 
that  does  not  hold  us  for  Heretics — otherwise  we  should  be 
judged  by  our  adversaries."  We  have  seen  that  Calvin  and  the 
Calvinists  alleged  the  same  reasons  against  the  Synod  of  Jena. 
The  Remonstrants  found  themselves  in  this  very  state  when 
they  beheld  Francis  Gomar  and  his  adherents  seated  in  the 
Council  amongst  their  Judges,  yet  themselves  excluded,  and 
treated  as  guilty  persons  :§  this  was  prejudging  against  them 
before  examining  the  cause  ;  and  these  reasons  seemed  to  them 
so  much  the  more  convincing,  as  they  were  visibly  the  very 
same  their  fathers  had  urged  against  the  Council  of  Trent,  as 
they  set  forth  in  their  petition. 

*  S.  I.  ix.pp.  11, 12, 19.  Ibid.  21.  Expos.  delaFoi,  ch.iv.  Conc.xiii.  p.  80. 
Sessione  xxxvL  Ca.  de  pra^dest.  Art.  xvii.  Sup.  n.  36.  f  Sess.xxv.  p.  65. 
et  seq.  J  S.  1.  viii.  n.  41.     Ibid.  70,  81. 

§  Syn.  Dord.  Ibid.  pp.  70,  71,  72,  &c.  81,  &c. 
VOL.  II.  19 


218  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

69. — Their  mouths  are  stopped  by  the  authority  of  the  States. 

After  their  petition  was  read,  it  was  declared  to  them,  "  the 
Synod  thought  it  very  strange  that  the  accused  should  set  laws 
to  their  judges,  and  prescribe  them  rules  ;  which  was  not  only 
injuring  the  Synod,  but  also  the  States-General,  by  whom  it  was 
assembled  and  authorized  to  judge  ;  wherefore  they  had  no  more 
to  do  but  to  obey."* 

This  was  stopping  their  mouths  with  the  authority  of  the  secular 
power,  but  not  answering  their  arguments,  nor  the  example  of 
their  forefathers  when  they  declined  the  judgment  of  the  Council 
of  Trent.  And  truly,  little  did  they  dwell  on  these  considera- 
tions: the  delegates  of  the  States  who  were  present  at  the  Synod]* 
with  the  whole  authority  of  their  superiors,  judged  the  Remon- 
strants were  not  to  be  admitted  plaintiffs,  and  ordered  them  to 
obey  the  regulations  of  the  Synod — which,  on  its  side,  declared 
their  propositions  insolent,  and  their  challenging  the  whole  Synod 
as  a  party  in  the  cause,  injurious,  not  only  to  the  Synod  itself, 
but  also  to  the  supreme  authority  of  the  States-General. 

70. — They  protest  against  the  Synod. — The  arguments  used  against  them  by  the 
Synod  condemn  the  whole  Protestant  party. 

The  Remonstrants  condemned,  change  their  petitions  into 
protests  against  the  Synod.  These  were  debated  on ;  and  as 
the  reasons  alleged  by  them  were  the  same  with  those  the  Prot- 
estants had  used  to  elude  the  authority  of  the  Catholic  bishops, 
the  answers  returned  them  were  the  same  that  the  Catholics  had 
employed  against  the  Protestants. J  They  were  told  that  it 
had  never  been  the  custom  of  the  Church  to  deprive  pastors  of 
their  right  of  suffrage  against  errors,  because  that  they  had  op- 
posed them  :  that  this  would  be  divesting  them  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  their  function  for  having  faithfully  discharged  their  duty, 
and  subverting  the  whole  economy  of  Church  judgments  :  that 
by  the  same  reasons  the  Arians,  the  Nestorians,  and  the  Eu- 
tychians  might  have  excepted  against  the  whole  Church,  and 
ietl  themselves  no  judge  among  Christians  :  that  this  would  be 
the  way  to  silence  pastors  and  give  a  free  scope  to  all  kind  of 
heresies.  After  all,  what  judges  would  they  have  1  Where  could 
they  find,  in  the  whole  body  of  the  pastors,  these  neutral  and  in- 
diiTerent  persons  that  had  interested  themselves  no  way  in  ques- 
tions of  faith  and  affairs  of  the  Church  ?  These  arguments  were 
unanswerable  ;  but  then,  unluckily  for  our  reformed,  they  were 
the  same  that  had  been  objected  to  them  when  they  declined  the 
judgment  of  the  bishops  in  possession  of  authority,  at  the  time 
of  their  separation. 

*  Syn.  Dord.  p.  80.  Sess.  xxvi.  pp.  82,  83.         t  Sess.  xxvi.  p.  81. 
I  Sess.  xxvil  p.  93.    Ibid,  n.  83,  87,  97,  98,  100,  104,  106. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  219 

71. — They  decide  that  the  weaker  and  younger  party  ought  to  yield  to  the  greater 

and  more  ancient. 

What  carried  the  greatest  weight  in  the  objections  against  the 
Remonstrants  was,  "  that  they  were  innovators,  and  the  least 
party,  as  well  as  the  newest,  which  by  consequence  ought  to  be 
judged  by  the  greatest,  and  the  most  ancient ;  by  that  which 
was  in  possession,  and  which  maintained  the  doctrine  till  then 
received."*  But  thereby  the  Catholics  did  most  evidently  gain 
their  cause,  for,  after  all,  what  antiquity  did  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  allege  against  the  Remonstrants'?  We  will  not  suffer, 
said  she,"!"  any  alteration  to  be  made  in  the  doctrine  we  have 
constantly  taught  "  these  fifty  years  past,"  for  this  was  the  utmost 
antiquity  they  could  boast.  If  fifty  years  gave  to  this  Church, 
that  called  herself  reformed,  so  great  a  power  against  the  Ar- 
minians  newly  crept  out  of  her  bosom,  what  ought  to  be  the  au- 
thority of  the  whole  Catholic  Church,  of  so  many  ages  standing? 
72.—z_Perplexity  of  the  Synod  at  the  Protest  of  the  Remonstrants. 

Among  all  the  answers  made  to  the  Remonstrants,  in  relation 
to  their  Protest,  what  was  the  least  taken  notice  of  was  the  com- 
parison made  by  them  between  their  exceptions  against  the  Synod 
of  Dort,  and  those  of  the  Reformed  against  the  councils  of  the 
Catholics  and  those  of  the  Lutherans.  J  Some  of  them  said, 
"  there  was  a  great  difference  between  this,  and  the  councils  of 
Papists  and  Lutherans.  There  you  hear  men,  the  Pope  and 
Luther ;  here  you  hear  God.  There  men  are  prepossessed ; 
here  not  a  man  to  be  found  that  is  not  ready  to  yield  to  the 
word  of  God.  There  you  have  enemies  to  contend  with ;  and 
here,  none  but  brethren.  There  every  thing  is  forced  ;  here  all 
is  free."  This  was  solving  the  question  by  that  which  caused 
the  difficulty.  The  question  was,  whether  the  Gomarists  did 
not  come  to  the  Synod  prepossessed  ;  the  question  was,  whether 
they  were  enemies  or  brethren ;  the  question  was,  which  of  them 
had  the  most  docile  hearts  in  regard  to  truth  and  the  word  of 
God  ;  whether  the  Protestants  in  general,  or  the  Catholics,  the 
disciples  of  Zuinglius  or  those  of  Luther ;  the  Gomarists  or  the 
Arminians.  And  as  to  liberty,  the  authority  of  the  States  which 
every  where  interposed,  and  moreover  was  always  in  the  mouth 
of  the  Synod,§  that  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the  declared  enemy 
of  the  Arminians,  the  imprisonment  of  Grotius  and  the  other 
heads  of  that  party,  and  lastly,  the  capital  punishment  of  Barne- 
veld,  sufficiently  prove  what  liberty  was  allowed  in  Holland  as 
to  that  matter. 

73. — Strange  answer  of  those  of  Geneva, 

The  deputies  of  Geneva  made  fewer  words  of  the  difficulty, 

*  Sesa.  xxvii.  pp.  97,  103,  &c.  f  Prsef.  ad  Ecc.  Ant.  Syn.  Dord. 

J  P.  99.  §  Sess.  XXV.  80.  xxvi.  SI,  82,  83,  &c. 


220  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

and  without  stopping  at  the  Lutherans,  to  whom  but  four  years 
of  seniority  above  the  ZuingUans  could  give  but  Uttle  authority 
to  be  their  judges,  they  answer  in  respect  of  the  Cathohcs  :* 
"  Our  fathers  might,  as  they  pleased,  protest  against  the  Coun- 
cils of  Constance  and  Trent,  because  we  are  determined  to  have 
no  kind  of  union  with  them ;  on  the  contrary,  we  despise  and 
hate  them :  in  all  times  those  who  declined  the  authority  of 
Councils  separated  from  their  communion."  This  is  the  whole 
of  their  ansv/er ;  and  these  great  doctors  would  have  had  noth- 
ing to  oppose  against  the  exceptions  of  the  Arminians,  had  they 
but  broken  off  from  the  Churches  of  Holland,  and  openly  "  des- 
pised" and  "  hated"  them. 

74. — According  to  the  Synod  of  Dort,  the  Protestants  were  obliged  to  own  the 
Council  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

According  to  this  way  of  answering,  the  Lutherans  needed 
not  have  taken  so  much  pains  to  heap  up  grievances  against  the 
Council  of  Trent,  nor  to  have  discussed  which  was  party,  and 
which  was  not,  in  this  cause.  To  reject  the  authority  of  the 
Council  the  Catholics  cited  them  to,  they  had  no  more  to  do  but 
say  downright.  We  are  determined  to  break  with  you,  we  de- 
spise you,  we  hate  you,  we  trouble  not  ourselves  about  your 
Council.  But  public  edification,  and  the  very  name  of  a  Chris- 
tian, would  not  suffer  such  an  answer.  Neither  did  the  Luther- 
ans answer  in  this  manner  ;|  on  the  contrary,  they  declared,  and 
even  at  Augsburg  in  their  own  Confession, J  that  they  appealed 
to  the  Council,  even  that  Council  which  the  Pope  was  to  assem- 
ble. There  is  a  like  declaration  in  the  Confession  of  Stras- 
burg ;  so  that  both  Protestant  parties  were  agreed  in  this  point. 
They  were  not  for  breaking  with  us  ;  they  did  not  hate  us  ;  they 
did  not  despise  us  to  that  degree  as  did  those  of  Geneva.  If  it 
be  therefore  true,  according  to  them,  that  the  Remonstrants 
ought  to  have  submitted  themselves  to  the  Council  of  the  Ref- 
ormation, as  they  were  averse  to  schism ;  so  the  Protestants, 
who  alike  declared  they  would  not  separate  from  the  CathoUc 
Church,  ought  to  have  submitted  to  her  Council. 

75. — In  order  to  silence  the  Remonstrants,  a  Syjiod  of  Calvinists  is  forced  to 
have  recourse  to  the  assistance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  promised  to  Comicils. 

We  must  not  forget  the  answer  made  by  a  whole  Synod  of 
the  Province  of  Holland  to  the  exceptions  of  the  Remonstrants  : 
it  was  the  Synod  held  at  Delft,  a  little  before  that  of  Dort.  The 
Remonstrants  objected  that  the  Synod,  which  was  to  be  con- 
vened against  them,  would  not  be  infallible  hke  that  of  the  Apos- 
tles, and,  consequently,  would  not  bind  their  consciences.  This 
they  must  certainly  have  owned,  or  denied  all  the  principles  of 

*  Sess.  xxvi.  103.  f  S.  1.  iii.  n.  62. 

I  Conf.  Argent.  Peror.  Synt  Gen.  part  i.  p.  199. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  221 

the  Reformation  ;  yet  after  owning  it,  those  of  Delft  had  these 
words  ;*  "  Jesus  Christ,  who  promised  the  Apostles  the  spirit  of 
truth,  whose  lights  were  to  lead  them  into  all  truth,  had  likewise 
promised  to  his  Church  to  be  with  her  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  and  to  be  in  the  midst  of  two  or  three  that  should  meet 
together  in  his  name ;"  whence  they  concluded  a  little  after, 
"  that  when  pastors  should  meet  together  from  sundry  countries, 
in  order  to  decide,  according  to  God's  word,  what  ought  to  be 
taught  in  the  churches,  one  ought  to  persuade  himself  with  a 
firm  confidence  that  Jesus  Christ  would  be  with  them  according 
to  his  promise." 

76. — This  is  returning  to  the  Catholic  Doctrine. 

Here,  then,  you  see  them  obliged  to  confess  two  promises  of 
Jesus  Christ,  that  he  will  be  present  at  and  direct  the  judgments 
of  his  Church.     Now  the  Catholics  never  had  any  other  foun-    — 
dation  than  this  to  believe  the  Church  infallible.     They  make 
use  of  the  first  text,  in  order  to  show  he  always  is  with  her  con-    -^ 
sidered  in  her  whole.     They  make  use  of  the  second  to  show 
we  ought  to  hold  for  certain  he  would  be  in  the  midst  of  two  or 
three,  were  we  assured  that  they  were  truly  assembled  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ.     Now  what  is  doubtful  in  respect  to  two     ^i 
or  three  assembled  in  private,  is  certain  in  regard  to  the  whole      ) 
Church  assembled  in  body  :  we  ought,  therefore,  to  hold  for  cer-     ' 
tain,  in  such  case,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  there  by  his  spirit,  and 
by  that  means  her  judgments  are  infallible  ;  or  let  them  tell  us    ' 
what  other  use  can  be  made  of  these  texts  in  the  case  to  wliich 
the  Synod  of  Delft  applies  them. 

77. — The  Remonstrants  are  made  to  hope  for  an  Oecumenical  Council. 

It  is  true,  the  certain  accomplishment  of  these  promises  is  to 
be  found  in  the  body  of  the  Universal  Church  and  in  her  oecu- 
menical council.  Accordingly,  it  was  to  such  a  council  the 
Remonstrants  had  appealed.  They  were  answered,!  "  It  was 
doubtful  whether  and  when  this  oecumenical  council  could  be 
assembled  ;  meanwhile,  the  national  one,  called  together  by  the 
states,  would  be  like  to  one  oecumenical  and  general,  forasmuch 
as  it  would  be  composed  of  the  deputies  of  all  the  reformed 
churches  ;"  and  in  case  they  should  find  "  themselves  aggrieved 
by  the  national  Synod,  they  would  be  free  to  appeal  to  an  cecu- 
menical  council,  provided,  in  the  interim,  they  obey  the  national 
council." 

78. — The  illusion  of  this  promise. 

The  reflection  we  ought  to  make  here  is,  that  to  speak  of  an 
oecumenical  council  was,  amongst  these  new  reformed,  a  rem- 
nant of  the  language  of  the  Church.     For  what  could  this  word 

*  Oct.  24,  1618.  Syn.  Delph-  Int.  Act.  Dord.  Sess.  xxvi.p.86.  Matt,  xviii.  20. 
t  Pracf.  ad  Ecc.  Ant  S}^l.  Dord. 
VOL.    II.  19  * 


222  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

mean  in  these  upstart  churches  ?  They  durst  not  say,  the  depu- 
ties of  all  the  Reformed  Churches  were  an  oecumenical  council 
representing  the  Universal  Church.  It  was,  said  they,  not  an 
oecumenical  council,  but  like  to  an  oecumenical  council.  What, 
then,  should  a  true  oecumenical  council  be  composed  of?  Ought 
the  Lutherans  to  be  a  part  of  it,  who  had  excommunicated  them  ? 
or  the  Catholics  1  or,  in  fine,  some  other  churches  I  That  is 
what  the  Calvinists  could  not  tell,  and  in  the  condition  they  had 
put  themselves  by  dividing  from  all  the  rest  of  Christendom,  the 
great  name  of  an  oecumenical  council,  so  venerable  among 
Christians,  was  nothing  to  them  but  an  insignificant  word,  which 
had  no  idea  in  their  mind  corresponding  to  it. 

79. — Resolution  of  the  Synod,  that  the  Confessio7isof  Faithmight  be  revised,  and 
at  tue  same  time  an  obligation  imposed  of  subscribing  them. 

The  last  observation  I  have  to  make,  as  to  the  procedure,  re- 
gards the  Confessions  of  Faith  and  the  Catechisms  received  in 
the  United  Provinces.  The  provincial  Synods  obliged  the  Re- 
monstrants to  subscribe  them.*  These  refused  it  absolutely, 
because  they  believed  there  were  principles  in  them  from  which 
the  condemnation  of  their  doctrine  might  be  clearly  enough  de- 
duced. Upon  this  refusal  they  were  treated  as  heretics  and 
schismatics  ;  and  this,  notwithstanding  it  was  agreed  in  the  pro- 
vincial Synods,  and  expressly  declared  in  the  Synod  of  Dort,"{* 
that  these  Confessions  of  Faith,  so  far  from  passing  for  a  cer- 
tain rule,  might  be  examined  anew ;  so  that  they  obliged  the 
Remonstrants  to  subscribe  a  doctrine  of  faith,  even  without  be- 
lieving it  themselves. 

80. — Decree  of  the  pretended  Reformed  of  France,  at  the  Synod  of  Charenton, 
in  order  to  approve  thatof  Dort. — The  certainty  of  Salvation  ackn&wledged  as 
the  principal  point. 

We  have  observed  already,  what  is  specified  in  the  acts,  that 
the  canons  of  the  Synod  against  the  Remonstrants  were  estab- 
lished with  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the  voices,  "  not  one 
excepted."  The  pretended  reformed  of  France  were  not  al- 
lowed to  go  to  Dort  though  invited,  but  received  its  decisions 
m  their  national  Synods,  and  amongst  the  rest,  in  that  of  Cha- 
renton,  in  1 G20,  where  all  the  canons  were  translated  into  French, 
and  a  subscription  of  them  enjoined  in  this  form  :  J — "  I  receive, 
approve,  and  embrace  all  the  doctrine  taught  in  the  Synod  of 
Dort,  as  entirely  conformable  to  God's  word  and  to  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faifh  of  our  churches  :  the  doctrine  of  the  Arminians 
makes  God's  election  to  depend  on  the  will  of  men,  brings  back 
Paganism,  disguises  popery,  and  overthrows  the  whole  certainty 
of  salvation."     These  last  words  show  us  what  they  judged  of 

*  Syn.  Delph.  Int.  Act  f  Dord.  Sess.  xxv.  p.  91.    Sess.xxxii.  123. 

I  vSess.  cxxv.  cxxx.  Praef.  ad  Ecc.     Sin.  de  Clia.  xxiii. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  223 

most  importance  in  the  decisions  of  Dort,  and  the  certainty  of 
salvation  stands  foremost  as  one  of  the  most  essential  charac- 
teristics of  Calvinism. 

81. — A  nexo  Subscription  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  by  the  French  Refugees. 

Even  very  lately,  the  first  thing  required  of  our  ministers,  who 

had  taken  refuge  in  Holland  in  these  last  contests  about  religion, 

was  to  subscribe  the  acts  of  the  Synod  of  Dort ;  and  so  great  a 

concourse,  so  many  oaths,  such  a  number  of  repeated  acts,  seem 

to  make  it  plain,  that  nothing  is  more  authentic  in  the  whole  party. 

82. — By  the  Decree  cf  the  Synod  of  Dort  the  Remonstrants  stand  deposed  and 

excommunicated. 

Even  the  decree  of  the  Synod  shows  the  importance  of  this 
decision,*  the  Remonstrants  being  deprived  by  it  "  of  the  min- 
istry, of  their  chairs  of  professorship  in  divinity,  of  all  other  func- 
tions as  well  ecclesiastic  as  academical,  until,  having  satisfied 
the  Church,  they  be  fully  reconciled  and  received  to  her  com- 
munion :"  which  shows  they  were  treated  as  excommunicated, 
and  that  the  sentence  of  excommunication  passed  against  them 
in  particular  churches  and  synods  was  ratified ;  after  which  the 
Synod  supplicates  the  states  not  to  suffer  "  any  other  doctrine 
to  be  taught  but  that  which  was  just  defined,  and  to  obstruct 
heresies  and  errors  that  were  creeping  in ;"  which  manifestly 
regards  the  Arminian  articles,  by  them  qualified  "  as  erroneous, 
and  as  the  source  of  hidden  errors." 
83. — The  decisions  of  Dcn'tnot  essential. — The  sentiment  of  the  Minister  Jurieu. 

All  these  things  might  make  one  think  these  articles  were  ac- 
counted very  essential  to  religion.  M.  Jurieu,  nevertheless, 
assures  us  of  the  contrary  :  for  after  supposing  "  the  Church  of 
Rome  was  in  the  sentiment  of  the  Arminians,  at  least  during  the 
time  of  the  Council  of  Trent,"  he  thus  proceeds  i"}"  "If  she  had 
no  other  errors,  we  should  have  done  exceedingly  ill  to  separate 
from  her :  we  ought  to  have  borne  with  those  for  peace  sake, 
by  reason  that  she  was  a  church  whereof  we  made  part,  and 
which  had  not  banded  herself  to  maintain  grace  according  to  St. 
Austin's  system  of  divinity,"  &c.  And  accordingly,  it  is  this 
which  makes  him  conclude,  "that  the  reason  which  made  them 
cut  the  Remonstrants  off  from  their  communion  was,  that  they 
would  not  submit  to  a  doctrine  which,  in  the  first  place,  we  be- 
lieved conformable  to  the  word  of  God,  which,  in  the  second, 
we  had  bound  ourselves,  by  a  confederate  confession,  to  main- 
tain and  defend  against  the  Pelagianism  of  the  Church  of  Rome." 
84. — Semi- Pelagianism,  according  to  this  Author,  damns  none. 

Without  assenting  to  his  principles,  or  what  he  says  of  the 

Church  of  Rome,  it  suffices  to  relate  his  sentiments,  which  make 

*  Sent.  Syn.  de  Remon.  Sess.  cxxxviii.  p.  280. 
t  Syst.  de  I'Egl.  liv.  ii.  ch.  iii.  p.  255.     Ibid.  ch.  x.  p.  305. 


224  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

him  say  in  another  place,*  "  that  the  churches  of  the  Swiss  and 
Geneva  Confession  would  exclude  from  their  communion  a 
Sem\-Pelagian,  and  one  that  should  maintain  the  eiTors  of  the 
Remonstrants  :  yet  it  would  not  be  their  design  thereby  to  de- 
clare this  man  damned,  as  if  Semi-Pelagianism  did  damn."  It, 
therefore,  stands  well  grounded  by  the  sentiment  of  this  minister, 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Ptemonstrants  may  well  exclude  one 
from  the  particular  confederation  of  the  pretended  reformed 
churches,  but  not,  in  general,  from  the  fellowship  of  God's  chil- 
dren :  which  shows  that  these  articles  are  not  of  the  number  of 
thoso  they  call  fundamental. 

Lastly,  the  same  doctor,!  in  his  "judgment  concerning  me- 
thods," where  he  labors  at  the  reunion  of  the  Lutherans  to  those 
of  his  communion,  acknowledges,  "  that  in  order  to  stem  a  tor- 
rent of  Pelagianism  which  was  going  to  overflow  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, the  Synod  of  Dort  ought  to  oppose  the  most  rigid  and 
strict  method  to  this  Pelagian  relaxation."  He  adds,  "  that  with 
this  view  she  might  have  imposed  on  her  party  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  St.  Austin's  method,  and  obliged,  I  do  not  say  all 
the  members  of  her  society,  but,  at  least,  all  her  doctors, 
prea'ihers,  and  the  rest  concerned  in  teaching,  yet  without  lay- 
in<r  other  churches  and  other  communions  under  the  same  obli- 
gaticn."  Whence  it  comes  that  the  Synod,  so  far  from  binding 
all  Christians  to  her  tenets,  does  not  even  pretend  to  bind  all 
her  members,  but  only  her  preachers  and  doctors  ;  W'hich  shows 
what  these  grave  decisions  of  the  new  Reformation  are  in  the 
main  ;  when,  after  so  much  boasting  the  express  word  of  God, 
all  terminates  at  last  in  obliging  doctors  to  teach,  by  common 
agreement,  a  doctrine  which  private  men  are  neither  obliged  to 
believe  nor  profess. 
85. —  The  tenets  in  debate  at  Dort  were  the  most  popular  and  the  most  essential. 

Nor  can  it  be  answered  that  these  are  dogmas  wliich  apper- 
tain not  to  the  knowledge  of  the  people  :  for  besides  that  all 
dogmas  revealed  by  God  are  made  for  the  people  as  well  as  for 
the  rest,  and  there  are  certain  cases  wherein  they  are  not  allowed 
to  be  ignorant  of  them ;  that  which  was  defined  at  Dort  ought, 
above  all  others,  to  be  a  most  popular  dogma,  since  it  principally 
concerned  that  certainty  every  body  ought  to  have  of  his  own 
salvation ;  a  dogma,  wherein  the  Calvinists  laid  the  main  foun- 
dation of  the  Christian  religion. 
86. —  The  minister  Jurieu  makes  the  Synod  of  Dort  act  more  by  policy  than  truth. 

All  the  rest  of  the  decisions  of  Dort,  as  you  have  seen,  tend- 
ing to  this  dogma  of  certainty,  it  was  no  question  of  idle  spec- 
ulation, but  of  practice,  which  they  judged  the  most  necessary 

*  Syst.  de  I'Egl.  liv.  ii.  ch.  iii.  p.  249. 
t  Jug,  sur  les  meth.  Sect,  xviii.  pp.  159,  160, 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  225 

and  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  religion  ;  and,  nevertheless, 
M.  Jurieu  has  represented  this  doctrine  not  so  much  as  a  cap- 
ital dogma,  but  as  a  method  they  were  obliged  to  follow  ;  and 
not  as  the  most  certain  neither,  but  as  being  "  the  most  rigid." 
"  In  order  to  stem,"  says  he,*  "  this  torrent  of  Pelagianism,  it 
was  necessary  to  expose  against  it  the  most  rigid  and  strict 
method,  and  to  decide,"  adds  he,  "  many  things  to  the  prejudice 
of  that  liberty  of  disputing  pro  and  cow,  which  always  had  sub- 
sisted among  the  Reformed :"  as  if  this  were  a  political  affair, 
or  that  other  things  were  to  be  considered  in  Church  decisions 
than  the  pure  truth  revealed  by  God  clearly  and  expressly  in  his 
word  ;  or,  after  a  full  knowledge  thereof,  it  were  allowable  to 
shift  and  decline  from  it. 

87. — They  were  ready  to  hear  xoith  Pelagianism  in  the  Arminians. 

But  what  this  minister  teaches  in  another  place,  is  still  more 
surprising,  since  he  declares  to  the  Arminians,  that  it  is  not 
properly  Arminianism,  but  Socinianism,  which  they  reject  in 
them. I  "  These  Remonstrants,"  says  he,  "  ought  not  to  wonder 
we  offer  peace  to  sects  that  seem  to  be  of  the  same  mind  with 
them  in  respect  to  the  Synod  of  Dort,  and  do  not  offer  it  to 
them.  Their  Semi- Socinianism  will  ever  be  a  wall  of  separation 
between  them  and  us."  Here  then  is  what  makes  the  separa- 
tion. "  It  is  because,  at  this  day,"  proceeds  he,  "  Socinianism 
is  in  the  most  elevated  stations  amongst  them."  It  is  plainly 
seen,  were  it  not  for  this  obstacle,  that  they  might  unite  with  the 
Arminians,  without  concerning  themselves  for  "  that  torrent  of 
Pelagianism  with  which  they  overflowed  the  Low  Countries," 
nor  for  the  decisions  of  Dort,  nor  even  for  the  confederacy  of 
all  Calvinism  in  favor  of  the  pretended  sentiments  of  St.  Austin. 

88. — The  rest  of  the  Ministers  are  of  the  same  opinion  with  M.  Jurieu. 

M.  Jurieu  is  not  the  only  one  that  has  revealed  to  us  this 

secret  of  the  party.     The  minister  Matthew  Bochart  had  assured 

us  before  him,J  that,  "  if  the  Remonstrants  had  only  differed 

from  the  rest  of  the  Calvinists  in  the  five  points  decided  at  the 

Synod  of  Dort,  the  difference  might  have  been  adjusted,"  which 

he  confirms  by  the  opinions  of  other  doctors  of  the  sect,  even 

with  that  of  the  Synod  itself. 

89. — The  Reformation  alloxos  private  men  to  arrogate  to  themselves  more  capacity 
for  understanding  sound  Doctrine,  than  all  the  rest  of  the  Church. 

It  is  true,  he  says  at  the  same  time,§  that  although  they  were 
disposed  to  tolerate,  in  peaceable  and  modest  individuals  senti- 
ments opposite  to  those  of  the  Synod,  they  could  not  have  suf- 
fered them  in  the  ministers,  who  ought  to  be  better  instructed 
than  the  rest :  but  this,  however,  is  enough  to  evince,  that  these 

*  Jug.  sur  les  meth.  Sect,  xviii.  p.  59.  f  lb.  Sect.  xvi.  p.  137. 

I  Diallact.  c.  viii.  p.  126,  &c.  lb.  130.  lb.  127.  §  lb.  126,  et  seq.  lb.  127. 


226  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

decisions,  "  which  were  opposed  against  Pelagianism,"  although 
made  by  the  Synod  with  so  great  solemnity  and  with  such  fre- 
quent declarations  of  their  following  nothing  therein  but  the  pure 
and  express  word  of  God,  are  not  very  material  to  Christianity  ; 
and  what  is  more  surprising,  is,  that  they  hold  for  modest  men 
such  private  persons  as,  after  knowing  the  decisions  of  all  the 
doctors,  nay,  as  speaks  Mr.  Bochart,  "  of  all  the  Churches  of 
the  party  as  many  as  there  are  in  Europe,"  yet  believe  they  are 
better  able  to  understand  which  is  sound  doctrine,  not  only  than 
any  one  of  these  in  particular,  but  even  than  all  of  them  together. 

90. — The  Doctors  themselves  are  very  much  relaxed  in  the  observance  of  the  de- 
crees of  Dort. 

It  is  also  very  certain,  that  the  doctors,  in  whom  sentiments 
opposed  to  those  of  the  Synod  were  not  to  be  tolerated,  are 
greatly  relaxed  in  that  respect.*  The  ministers  who  have  writ- 
ten in  latter  times,  and  among  others  M.  Beaulieu,  whom  we 
have  seen  at  Sedan  one  of  the  most  learned  and  pacific  of  them 
all,  soften  as  much  as  they  are  able  the  dogma  of  inamissibihty 
of  justice,  and  even  that  of  the  certainty  of  salvation  ;  and  two 
reasons  move  them  to  it :  the  first  is,  the  dislike  of  Lutherans 
to  it,  whom  they  are  willing  to  be  united  to  at  any  rate  ;  the 
second  is,  the  absurdity  and  impiety  discoverable  in  these  tenets 
by  never  so  little  an  inspection.  The  doctors  may,  by  degrees, 
inure  themselves  to  them  in  consequence  of  the  false  principles 
they  are  imbued  with ;  but  plain  and  sincere  people  will  not 
easily  be  persuaded,  that  every  one  of  them,  to  have  true  faith, 
must  assure  himself  he  has  no  damnation  to  fear,  let  him  com- 
mit v/hat  crimes  he  pleases  ;  much  less,  that  he  is  sure  of  pre- 
serving sanctity  and  grace  in  such  crimes. 

As  often  as  our  Reformed  disclaim  these  impious  tenets,  let  us 
praise  God  for  it,  and  without  more  disputing,  entreat  them  only 
to  consider  that  the  Holy  Ghost  could  not  have  been  in  those 
that  taught  them,  and  who  made  a  great  part  of  the  Reformation 
to  consist  in  notions  so  derogatory  to  Christian  justice. 

91. — The  Synod  of  Dort  hath  done  no  good,  and  in  spite  of  all  its  decrees  M. 

Jurieu  is  a  Pelagian. 

Tlds,  however,  we  may  conclude  from  thence  :  that,  after  all, 
this  ^reat  Synod  has  proved  quite  useless,  and  neither  cured  the 
people,  nor  even  the  pastors,  for  whom  it  was  principally  in- 
tended, inasmuch  as  what  is  called  Pelagianism  in  the  Reforma- 
tion (the  thing  the  Synod  resolved  to  destroy)  still  stands  its 
ground  ;  for  I  ask,  who  has  been  cured  of  this  evil  1  Not  those 
surely  who  do  not  believe  the  Synod ;  nor  even  those  who  do 
believe  it ;  for  M.  Jurieu,  for  instance,  who  is  of  this  last  num- 

*  The.  de  Art.  Just,  part  ii.  Th.  42,  43.  Item.  Th.  An  Homo  soils  nat. 
virib.,  &c.  Corol.  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  &c. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  227 

ber,  and  seems  to  continue  so  firm  in  the  confederation,  as  he 
calls  it,  of  the  Calvinian  Churches  against  Pelagianism,  in  re- 
ality does  not  disapprove  it,  since  he  maintains,  as  we  have  seen, 
that  it  is  not  contrary  to  piety.*  He  is  like  those  Socinians, 
who  when  asked  if  they  believe  the  eternal  divinity  of  the  Son 
of  God,  make  no  difficulty  of  answering,  they  beheve  it :  but 
urged  a  little  further,  will  tell  you,  that  the  contrary  belief,  in  the 
main,  is  neither  opposite  to  piety  nor  true  faith.  Such  are  true 
enemies  to  the  Son  of  God's  divinity,  since  they  hold  the  tenet 
for  indifferent :  M.  Jurieu  is  a  Pelagian,  and  the  enemy  of 
grace,  in  the  same  sense. 

92. — Another  Pelagian  saying  of  the  same  Minister,  and  his  wretched  contra- 
dictions. 

In  effect,  what  is  the  tendency  of  these  words  of  his,  "  in  ex- 
hortation, you  must  of  necessity  speak  like  a  Pelagian'?"  This 
is  not  the  speech  of  a  divine  ;  for  if  Pelagianism  be  a  heresy, 
and  a  heresy  that  renders  useless  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
has  been  so  much  preached  even  by  the  Reformation,  you  can- 
not keep  at  too  great  a  distance  from  it  in  exhortation,  so  far 
from  retaining  the  least  tincture  of  it.| 

This  minister  is  no  less  inconsistent  when  he  excuses  the  Pe- 
lagians or  Semi-Pelagians  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  together 
with  the  Arminians,  following  the  same  sentiments,  under  pre- 
text that,  "  whilst  they  are  Semi-Pelagians  in  word  and  spirit, 
they  are  the  disciples  of  St.  Austin  in  the  heart ;"  for  can  he  be 
ignorant  that  a  perverted  spirit  soon  corrupts  the  heart?  Men 
must  be  very  closely  attached  to  error  when  even  truth  pre- 
sented does  not  awaken  them,  nay,  presented  by  a  synod  made 
up  of  their  whole  communion. 

When  therefore  M.  Jurieu  says,  on  one  hand,  that  Pelagian- 
ism does  not  damn;  and  on  the  other,  that  you  will  '■^  never  make 
truly  pious  men  of  Pelagians  and  Semi-Pelagians,"  J  though  he 
be  never  so  subtle  a  divine,  he  could  not  show  more  clearly  that 
he  does  not  reflect  on  what  he  says,  and  that,  by  endeavoring  to 
save  all,  he  loses  all. 

93. — This  Minister  falls  back  into  the  excesses  of  the  Reformers  relating  to  the 

cause  of  Sin. 

He  also  thinks  he  has  kept  clear  from  that  blasphemy  which 
makes  God  the  author  of  sin,  into  which,  he  pretends,  none  of 
his  party  has  fallen  "  for  this  hundred  years  ;"  and  he  himself 
relapses  into  it  in  that  very  book  where  he  pretends  to  show 
they  are  no  longer  guilty  of  it.§  For  after  all,  whilst  you  con- 
tinue to  deprive  mankind  of  the  hberty  of  their  choice,  and  be- 
lieve that  free-will  subsists  together  with  an  entire  and  inevitable 

*  S.  n.  pp.  83, 84,  87.  f  Meth.  Sect  xv.  p.  131.  Ibid.  Sect.  xiv.  pp.  113, 114 
X  S.  n.  83,  84,  87.     MetL  Sect.  xv.  pp.  113,  121.  §  S.  n.  6. 


228  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

necessity,  it  always  will  be  true  that  neither  men,  nor  prevari- 
cating angels,  could  avoid  sinning  ;  and  so  the  sins  they  fell  into 
are  the  necessary  consequence  resulting  from  those  dispositions 
their  Creator  placed  them  in.  Now  M.  Jurieu  is  one  of  those 
who  leave  this  inevitable  necessity  whole  and  entire,  when  he 
says,  we  know  nothing  of  our  soul,  "  only  that  she  thinks,"  nor 
can  we  define  what  is  requisite  "  to  constitute  her  free."*  He 
owns,  therefore,  he  does  not  know  but  it  is  this  inevitable  ne- 
cessity which  drags  us  into  evil  as  well  as  good,  and  by  that 
means  sinks  into  all  the  excesses  of  the  first  Reformers,  from 
which  he  boasts  that  his  party  has  been  free  a  whole  age. 

To  avoid  these  terrible  inconveniences,  you  must  at  least 
believe,  if  not  arrived  to  the  comprehension  of  it,  that  there  is 
no  admitting,  without  blasphemy  and  making  God  the  author  of 
sin,  this  invincible  necessity  which  the  Remonstrants  reproached 
the  pretended  Reformers  with,  and  from  which  the  Synod  of 
Dort  has  not  justified  them. 

94. — Connivance  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  not  only  at  the  excesses  of  the  pretended 
Reformers,  but  also  at  those  of  the  Remonstrants. 

And  in  reality,  I  observe  that  nothing  is  said  in  any  part  of 
the  Synod  against  these  damnable  excesses.  It  was  wilHng  to 
spare  the  Reformers  and  save  the  beginnings  of  the  Reforma- 
tion from  eternal  infamy. 

Yet  at  least  it  ought  not  to  have  extended  the  like  condescen- 
sion  to  the  Remonstrants,  who  opposed  to  the  excesses  of  the 
Reformers  other  no  less  criminal  excesses. 

They  printed  in  Holland  in  1618,  a  httle  before  the  Synod,  a 
book  under  this  title — "  The  State  of  Controversies  in  the  Low 
Countries,"!  where  it  is  shown  it  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Re- 
monstrants that  certain  accidents  might  befal  God  ;  that  he  was 
liable  to  change  ;  that  his  prescience  of  certain  events  was  not 
certain  ;  that  he  proceeded  by  discoursing  and  conjecture  in 
drawing,  as  we  do,  one  thing  from  another ;  and  other  the  like 
numberless  errors,  wherein  the  Author  sides  with  those  philoso- 
phers who  destroy  God's  foreknowledge,  for  fear  of  lessening 
the  liberty  of  man.  There  it  is  made  appear  they  went  so  far 
astray  as  to  make  God  corporeal,  to  attribute  to  him  three 
essences,  and  the  rest  that  may  be  learned  from  that  Book, 
which  is  very  perspicuous  and  concise.  It  was  composed  in 
order  to  prepare,  for  the  approaching  Synod,  the  subject  matter 
of  their  dehbcrations  :  but  none  of  all  these  things  were  men- 
tioned at  it,  no  more  than  many  others  as  materially  started  by 
the  Remonstrants.  The  whole  care  of  the  Synod  was  taken  up 
in  preserving  those  Articles  which  are  peculiar  to  Calvinism ; 

*  Meth.  Sect.  pp.  129,  132. 

t  Specim.  Controv.  Belg.  ex  Offic.  Elzev.  pp.  2,  4,  7,  &c. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  229 

and  more  zeal  was  exhibite-d  by  them  for  these  opinions,  than 

for  the  fundamental  principles  of  Chris-tianity. 

95. — The  Decree^qf  Charenton  receiving  the  Lutherans  to  Communiori. — 1631. 

The  great  deference  which  we  have  seen  was  paid  to  the  Lu- 
therans, prevailed  nothing  with  them  in  regard  to  an  union,  they 
still  persisting  to  hold  the  whole  party  of  the  Sacramentarians 
for  excommunicated.  At  last  the  Reformed  of  France,  in  their 
national  Synod  of  Charenton,  made  this  memorable  decree, 
wherein  they  de-clare,  "  that  the  Germans  and  others  following 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  for  so  much  as  the  Churches  of 
the  Augsburg  Confession  agree  with  the  others  that  are  reformed 
in  the  fundamental  principles  and  tenets  of  the  true  religion,  and 
that  in  their  worship  there  is  neither  idolatry  nor  superstition, 
may,  without  making  abjuration,  be  received  to  the  holy  table, 
to  contract  marriage  with  the  faithful  of  our  Confession,  and  to 
present,  as  god-fathers,  children  to  baptism,  in  promising  the 
Consistory"  they  will  never  solicit  them  to  act  counter,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  the  doctrine  received  and  professed  in  our 
Churches,  but  will  be  contented  with  instructing  them  in  the 
principles  wherein  we  all  agree." 

96. —  The  Consequences  of  this  Decree, 

In  consequence  of  this  decree,  they  were  obliged  to  say,* 
"  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence,  taken  in  itself,  has  no 
venom  in  it :  that  it  is  neither  contrary  to  piety  nor  God's  hon- 
or, nor  the  good  of  mankind  :  that  although  the  opinion  of  the 
Lutherans  relating  to  the  Eucharist  infers,  no  less  than  that  of 
Rome,  the  destruction  of  Jesus  Christ's  humanity,  this  conse- 
quence nevertheless  cannot  be  imputed  to  them  without  ca- 
lumny, inasmuch  as  it  is  formally  rejected  by  them," — so  that 
it  is  an  allowed  maxim  that,  in  matters  of  religion,  none  ought 
to  charge  on  others  the  consequences  they  draw  from  their  doc- 
trine, but  only  such  things  as  they  allow  in  express  terms. 
97. — The  Calvinists  had  never  advanced  so  far  before. 

Never  had  the  Sacramentarians,  before  this  time,  made  so 
great  an  advance  towards  the  Lutherans.  The  novelty  of  this 
decree  does  not  consist  in  saying,  that  the  Real  Presence,  and 
the  other  disputed  points  between  both  parties,  do  not  regard  the 
fundamentals  of  salvation  ;  for  it  must  be  owned  ingenuously, 
that  ever  since  the  time  of  the  Conference  of  Marpurg,  that  is, 
so  long  ago  as  the  year  1529,|  the  Zuinglians  offered  the  Lu- 
therans to  hold  them  for  brethren  notwithstanding  their  doctrine 
of  the  Real  Presence  ;  and  never,  from  that  time,  did  they  be- 
lieve it  fundamental,  but  required  that  the  fraternity  should  be 
mutual,  and  owned  equally  on  both  sides ;  which  being  refused 

*  Daille  Apol.  ch.  vii.  p.  43.    Id.  Lettre  a  Mongl.  t  S.  1.  ii.  n.  45. 

VOL.  II.  20 


230  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

them  by  Luther,  they  Ukewise  continued  to  disown  those  for 
brethren  who  were  so  averse  to  pass  the  same  judgment  in  their 
favor :  whereas,  in  the  Synod  of  Charenton,  it  is  the  Sacra- 
mentarians  alone  that  receive  the  Lutherans  into  that  fellowship, 
notwithstanding  that  they  are  held  by  them  for  excommunicated. 
98. — Memorahle  date  of  the  Decree  of  Charenton. 
The  date  of  this  decree  is  remarka»ble  :  it  was  made  in  1631, 
when  the  great  Gustavus  was  thundering  in  Germany,  and  when 
it  was  currently  believed  throughout  the  whole  Reformation, 
that  Rome  itself  would  be  soon  in  the  power  of  the  Lutherans. 
God  had  otherwise  ordained  :  the  year  following,  this  victorious 
King  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Lutzen,  and  all  the  rare  disco- 
veries made  concerning  him  in  the  prophecies  were  now  to  be 
retracted. 

99. — Great  change  in  controversies  by  means  of  this  Decree. — It  convicts  the 

Calvinists  of  cahimny. 

Meanwhile  the  decree  passed,  and  the  Catholics  observed  the 
greatest  change  imaginable  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Protestants. 

In  the  first  place,  all  that  horror  they  had  infused  into  the 
people  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  appeared  man- 
ifestly unjust  and  calumnious.  The  doctors  may  say  what 
they  please  of  the  matter :  but  it  was  the  Real  Presence  on 
which  the  aversion  of  the  people  was  chiefly  bent.  This  doc- 
trine had  been  represented  to  them,  not  only  as  gross  and  carnal, 
but  also  as  brutal  and  full  of  barbarity,  whereby  men  became 
Cyclopses,  eaters  of  human  flesh  and  human  blood,  parricides 
that  eat  their  Father  and  their  God.  But  now,  since  the  decree 
of  this  Synod,  it  stands  confessed,  that  all  these  exaggerations, 
with  which  the  silly  vulgar  were  fascinated  for  so  long  a  time, 
are  calumnies ;  and  the  doctrine  that  was  made  to  pass  for  so 
impious  and  inhuman,  has  no  longer  any  thing  in  it  that  is  con- 
trary to  piety. 

100. — The  literal  sense  and  the  Real  Presence  necessary. 

Thereby  even  it  becomes  the  most  credible  and  the  most  ne- 
cessary ;  for  the  chief  reason  inducing  to  wrest  the  sense  of 
these  words — "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and 
drink  his  blood,"*  and  also  of  these — "  Eat,  this  is  my  body  ; 
drink,  this  is  my  blood, ""j" — to  spiritual  and  metaphorical  mean- 
ings was,  because  they  seemed  to  lead  to  sin  by  commanding 
to  eat  human  flesh,  and  to  drink  human  blood  :  so  that  St.  Aus- 
tin's rule,  of  interpreting  spiritually  what  appears  to  incline  to 
evil,  was  here  to  take  place.  But  at  present  this  reason  carries 
no  longer  any  the  least  probability ;  all  this  imaginary  crime  is 
vanished,  and  nothing  prevents  taking  the  words  of  our  Saviour 
in  their  true  literal  sense. 

*  John  vi.  53.  t  Matt.  xxvi.  26,  27,  28. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  231 

The  people  were  made  to  abhor  the  Catholic  doctrine,  as  a 
doctrine  that  destroyed  Jesus  Christ's  human  nature,  and  ruined 
the  mystery  of  his  ascension.  But  they  must  no  longer  be 
affrighted  at  these  consequences,  since  the  denial  of  them  suf- 
ficiently acquits  whosoever  denies  them. 

101. — The  chief  argument  in  behalf  of  the  rupture  rendered  frivolous. 

These  horrors  thus  raised  in  the  minds  of  the  people  were, 
to  speak  the  truth,  the  real  cause  of  their  departure  from  the 
Church.  Read  in  all  the  acts  of  the  pretended  martyrs  the 
cause  for  which  they  suffered,  and  you  will  find  everywhere,  that 
it  was  for  the  doctrine  opposite  to  the  Real  Presence.  Consult 
a  Melancthon,  a  Sturmius,  a  Peucer,  all  the  rest  that  v»ere 
against  condemning  the  doctrine  of  the  Zuinglians — you  will 
find  their  chief  reason  to  be,  because  it  was  for  this  doctrine 
that  such  a  number  of  the  faithful  laid  down  their  lives  in  France 
and  England.  These  wretched  martyrs  persuaded  themselves, 
in  dying  for  this  doctrine,  they  died  for  a  fundamental  point  of 
faith  and  piety ;  at  present  this  doctrine  is  innocent,  and  excludes 
none  from  the  sacred  table,  nor  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

102. — The  hatred  of  the  People  turned  against  Transubstantiation,  a  thing  of 
of  much  less  importance. 

To  preserve  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  their  aversion  to  the 

Catholic  doctrine,  it  was  requisite  to  turn  it  on  another  object 

than  the  Real  Presence.     Transubstantiation  is  now  the  great 

crime  :  there  is  now  no  manner  of  difficulty  in  admitting  Jesus 

Christ  really  present ;  in  admitting  one  and  the  same  body  in 

different  places  at  once  ;  in  admitting  the  entire  body  in  eveiy 

crumb  of  bread :  the  grand  error  consists  in  taking  the  bread 

avvay  :   what  regards  Jesus  Christ  is  of  small  importance  ;  what 

regards  the  bread  is  alone  essential. 

103. — Jesus  Christ  no  longer  adorable  in  the  Eucharisty  as  formerly  believed  by 

Protestants. 

All  the  maxims,  till  then  held  for  unquestionable,  regarding 
the  adoration  of  Jesus  Clii'ist,  are  now  changed.  Calvin  and 
the  rest  of  them  had  demonstrated,  that  wherever  Jesus  Christ, 
so  adorable  an  object,  was  held  present  by  so  special  a  Presence 
as  that  acknowledged  in  the  Eucharist,  it  was  not  lawful  to  with- 
hold that  adoration  which  is  due  unto  him.  But  now,  Jesus 
Christ's  Presence  in  any  place  is  not  enough  to  make  him  be 
adored  in  it ;  he  must  command  it,  he  must  "  declare  his  will, 
in  order  to  be  adored  in  such  and  such  a  state  ;"*  otherwise,  as 
much  G  od  as  he  is,  he  will  meet  with  no  worship  from  us.  More 
than  this,  he  must  show  himself:  "if  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ 
be  in  a  place  insensibly,  and  in  a  manner  imperceptible  to  all 

+  Cont.  Westp.  Cont.  Heshu.  Dial.  Du  Minist.  Boch.  sur  le  syn.  de  Cha.  i. 
p.  24.  Ejusd.  Dial,  part  ii.  cap.  vii.  Sedaiii,  p.  21. 


232  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

the  senses,  he  does  not  obUge  us  to  worship  him  in  such  a  place." 

His  word  does  not  suffice,  it  is  necessaiy  he  should  be  seen : 

you  may  hear  the  voice  of  the  king  never  so  much ;  if  you  see 

him  not  with  your  own  eyes,  you  owe  him  no  respect,  or,  at 

least,  he  must  declare  expressly  it  is  his  intention  to  be  honored  ; 

otherwise  you  should  behave  as  in  his  absence.     Were  it  the 

case  of  an  earthly  king,  none  would  question  paying  him  what 

is  his  due  the  moment  it  is  known  where  he  is ;  but  thus  to 

honor  the  King  of  heaven  would  be  idolatry,  and  it  vv  ould  be  to 

be  feared  lest  he  should  take  the  worship  to  be  given  to  another 

than  himself. 

104. — Interior  Jlcts  of  Adoratmi  are  toleratedin  the  Lutherans,  and  the  exterioTy 
xohich  are  but  the  tokens  of  them,  rejected. 

But  here  is  a  device  that  is  new  and  sui*prising.  The  Lu- 
theran, who  believes  Jesus  Chiist  present,  shall  receive  him  as 
his  God  ;  shall  put  his  tmst  in  him,  shall  invoke  him ;  and  the 
Synod  of  Charenton  decides,  "  their  is  neither  idolatry,  nor  su- 
perstition in  his  worship  :"  but  if  he  make  any  perceptible  act 
of  adoration,  he  idolizes  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  allowable  to  have 
the  substance  of  adoration,  which  is  the  interior  sentiment,  but 
not  allowable  to  testify  it ;  and  you  become  an  idolater  in  making 
appear,  by  some  posture  of  respect,  the  sense  of  that  truly  sacred 
veneration  you  have  in  your  heart. 

105. — Frivolous  Answer. 

"But  the  reason  of  this  is,"  say  they,*  "because,  should  the 
Lutheran  adore  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  who  is  there  to- 
gether with  the  bread,  there  would  be  danger  lest  the  adoration 
should  be  referred  to  the  bread  alike  as  to  Jesus  Chiist ;  or, 
however,  lest  some  should  think  the  intention  was  to  refer  it  so:" 
no  question,  when  the  wise  men  adored  Jesus  Christ,  either  in 
his  crib,  or  in  a  cradle,  it  was  to  be  feared  lest  they  should  wor- 
ship, together  with  Jesus  Clu-ist,  either  the  crib  or  the  cradle  ;  or 
in  fine,  lest  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  Joseph  should  take  them 
for  worshippers  of  the  cradle  rather  than  of  the  divine  infant  lying 
in  it.  These  were  the  subtleties  introduced  by  the  decree  of 
Charenton. 

106. — Ubiquity  tolerated. 

Moreover,  the  doctrine  of  Ubiquity,  which  had  been  accounted, 
and  with  reason,  alike  by  the  Sacramentarians  and  by  Catholics, 
a  most  monstrous  doctrine,  confounding  both  natures  of  Jesus 
Christ,  becomes  the  doctrine  of  the  Saints. 

For  you  are  not  to  imagine  that  the  defenders  of  this  doctrine 

were  expected  out  of  the  union :  the  Synod  speaks  in  general 

of  the  churches  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  whereof  it  is  well 

known  the  greatest  part  are  Ubiquitarians,  and  the  ministers  as- 

*  Dial  du  Min.  Boch.  sur  le  syn.  de  Cha.  i.  p.  24. 


XIV  ]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  233 

sure  us,*  Ubiquity  hath  nothing  mortal  in  it,  though  it  destroys, 
more  expressly  than  ever  Eutychianism  did,  the  human  nature 
of  our  Lord. 

107. — JsTotkhig  but  the  external  Worship  is  looked  upon  as  important. 

In  a  word,  little  account  is  made  of  every  thing  that  causes 
no  alteration  in  the  worship,  even  in  the  external  worship  :  for 
the  belief,  which  you  may  have  interiorly,  is  no  obstacle  to  com- 
munion ;  nothing  but  the  respect  you  show  externally  makes 
the  sin ;  and  this  is  what  we  are  brought  to  by  those  who  are 
always  preaching  to  us  adoration  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

108. — The  foimdalix)n  of  Piety  formerly  acknowledged  by  them,  is  changed. 

It  plainly  appears,  without  needing  my  intimation,  that  after 
the  Synod  of  Charenton,  neither  the  inamissibility  of  justice,  nor 
the  certainty  of  salvation,  are  any  longer  a  necessaiy  foundation 
of  piety,  since  the  Lutherans  are  admitted  to  communion  with 
the  contrary  doctrine. 
109. — The  disputes  about  Predestination  concern  not  the  Substance  of  Religion. 

No  more  must  they  speak  to  us  of  absolute  predestination  and 
absolute  decrees  as  of  a  fundamental  article,  since  they  cannot 
deny,  according  to  M.  Jurieu,  "  but  there  is  piety  in  those  great 
communions  of  Protestants,  wherein  both  absolute  decrees  and 
grace  of  itself  efficacious,  are  so  roughly  handled."  The  same 
minister  is  agreed,  "  that  the  Protestants  of  Germany  make  the 
foreknowledge  of  our  faith  enter  into  that  gratuitous  love  whereby 
God  has  loved  us  in  Jesus  Christ."  Thus  the  decree  of  pre- 
destinaton  will  not  be  an  absolute  decree,  and  independent  of  all 
foreknowledge,  but  a  conditional  decree,  including  the  condition 
of  our  future  faith;  and  this  is  what  M.  Jurieu  does  not  condemn,  "f 
110. — Tioo  other  remarkable  J^ovelties  ensuing  from  the  Decree  of  Charenton. 

But  here  are  the  two  most  remarkable  novelties  wliich  the 
decree  of  Charenton  has  introduced  into  the  pretended  Reforma- 
tion :  first,  the  dispute  on  fundamental  points ;  and  secondly, 
the  dispute  on  the  nature  of  the  Church. 

111. — Distinction  of  fundamental  Points,  and  the  inevitable  perplexity  of  our 

Reformed. 

As  to  fundamental  points,  the  Catholics  thus  argued  with  them. 
"  If  the  Real  Presence,  if  Ubiquity,  if  so  many  other  important 
points,  contested  for  more  than  an  age  between  the  Lutherans 
and  Calvinists,  be  not  fundamental,  why  should  those  be  more 
so  on  which  you  dispute  with  the  Church  of  Rome  ?  Does  not 
she  believe  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  whole  Creed  ?  Has 
she  laid  any  other  foundation  than  Jesus  Christ  ?  All  you  ob- 
ject against  her,  on  this  head,  in  order  to  show  that  she  has  an- 
other, are  so  many  consequences  which  she  denies,  and  which, 

*  Boch.  Ibid.  Dial.  xv.  part  ii.  c.  vii. 
Jugement  sur  les  Meth.  Sect.  xiv.  p.  113.     Ibid.  sect,  xviii.  p.  15S. 
VOL.  II.  20* 


234  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

according  to  your  own  principles,  ought  not  to  be  imputed  to 
her.  Wherein,  then,  do  you  place  precisely  what  is  fundamental 
in  religion  ?'  To  relate  here  all  they  have  said  concerning  fun- 
damental points,  some  one  way,  some  another,  and  the  greatest 
part  confessing  that  it  is  all  a  mysteiy  to  them,  and  a  thing  rather 
to  be  felt  than  explained,  were  an  endless  task,  and  involving 
one's  self  with  them  in  a  labyrinth  from  whence  there  is  no  exit. 

112. — They  are  Jorced  to  oxmi  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  a  true  Churchy 

wherein  one  may  he  saved. 

The  other  dispute  was  not  less  important :  for  this  principle 
being  once  established  by  them,  that  those  who  retain  the  prin- 
cipal foundations  of  faith,  however  separated  in  communion,  are, 
in  the  main,  the  same  Church  and  the  same  society  of  God's 
children,  worthy  of  his  holy  table  and  his  kingdom,  the  Catholics 
demand  how  they  can  be  excluded  from  this  Church  and  from 
eternal  salvation  ?     For  now  it  will  no  longer  serve  their  turn  to 

O 

say,  the  Church  of  Rome  is  a  Church  excluding  the  whole  world, 

and  which  the  whole  world  ought  to  exclude :  for  you  see  the 

Lutherans,  who  exclude  the  Calvinists,  are  not  excluded.     It  is 

this  which  has  produced  this  new  system  of  the  Church  wliich 

makes  so  great  a  noise,  and  wherein,  after  all,  they  cannot  but 

comprehend  the  Church  of  Rome. 

113. — The  Conference  of  Cassel,  lohere  the  Lutherans  of  Rintel  come  to  an 
Agreement  loith  the  Calvinists  of  Marjyxirg. 

The  Protestants  of  Germany  have  not  been  in  all  places  alike 

inexorable  in  regard  of  the  Calvinists.     In  1661,  a  conference 

was  held  at  Cassel  between  the  Calvinists  of  Marpurg  and  the 

Lutherans  of  Rintel,  where  both  parties  entered  into  a  brotherly 

fellowship.     I  own  this  union  was  without  consequence  in  the 

other  parts  of  Germany,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover 

what  even  was  the  consequence  of  it  between  the  contracting 

parties :  but  in  the  agreement  there  was  one  important  article 

not  to  be  forgotten. 

114. — bnpartant  article  of  this  Agreement  relating  to  the  breaking  of  the  Eu- 

charistic  Bread. 

The  Calvinists  reproached  the  Lutherans  that,  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Eucharist,  they  omitted  the  breaking  of  the  bread, 
which  had  a  divine  institution.*  It  is  the  current  doctrine  of 
Calvinism,  that  the  breaking  makes  part  of  the  Sacrament  as 
])eing  a  symbol  of  that  body  broken  which  Jesus  would  give 
to  liis  disciples  ;  that  for  this  reason  it  was  practised  by  Jesus 
Christ,  that  it  is  of  precept,  and  comprehended  by  our  Saviour 
in  this  ordinance,  "  Do  ye  this."  This  is  what  was  maintained 
by  the  Calvinists  of  Marpurg,  and  denied  by  the  Lutherans  of 
Rmtel.     They  nevertheless  united,  each  side  persisting  in  theii' 

*  Coll.  Cass.  ^.  de  fract  pan. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  235 

sentiments  ;  and  it  was  said  by  those  of  Marpurg,  "  That  the 
breaking  did  not  appertain  to  the  essence,  but  only  to  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Sacrament,  as  being  necessary  thereto  by  the 
example  and  commandment  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  that  the  Luther- 
ans, without  breaking  the  bread,  had  nevertheless  the  substance 
of  the  Supper,  and  both  parties  might  mutually  tolerate  each  other." 

115. — Demonstration  in  favor  of  Conimu7mn  under  one  kind. 

A  minister,  who  answered  a  treatise  concerning  Communion 
under  both  kinds,  has  examined  this  conference  which  was  ob- 
jected against  them:  the  fact  passed  for  unquestionable,  and  the 
minister  agreed  that  the  breaking  of  the  bread,  although  com- 
manded by  Jesus  Christ,  did  not  appertain  to  the  essence,  but 
only  to  the  integrity  of  the  Sacrament.*  Here,  then,  have  we 
the  essence  of  the  Sacrament  manifestly  separated  from  the  di- 
vine precept,  and  reasons  have  been  found  to  dispense  with  that 
which  they  said  was  commanded  by  Jesus  Christ :  after  which 
I  do  not  see  how  they  can  urge  the  precept  of  receiving  under 
both  kinds  ;  forasmuch  that  as  though  we  were  agreed  Jesus 
Christ  had  commanded  the  receiving  of  them,  we  should  still 
be  admitted  to  examine  whether  this  divine  commandment-  re- 
garded the  essence,  or  only  the  integrity. 

116. — Present  state  of  Controversies  in  Germany. 

The  present  state  of  controversies  in  Germany  between  the 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists  may  be  likewise  seen  in  the  same  con- 
ference ;  where  it  will  be  perceived,  that  the  constant  doctrine 
of  the  divines  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  is,  that  grace  is  uni- 
versal ;  that  it  is  resistible  ;  that  it  is  amissible  ;  that  predesti- 
nation is  conditional,  and  presupposes  the  foreknowledge  of  our 
faith  ;  lastly,  that  the  grace  of  conversion  is  annexed  to  an  action 
purely  natural,  and  depending  on  our  own  strength,  namely,  on 
our  carefulness  to  hear  sermons  i"]"  which  the  learned  Beaulieu 
confirms  by  many  testimonies,  to  which  we  could  add  many 
others,  were  not  the  thing  past  dispute,  as  might  have  been  seen 
by  the  testimony  of  M.  Jurieu,J  and  had  we  not  spoken  of  this 
matter  already. 

117. — The  relaxation  of  the  principles  of  the  Lutherans  give  occasion  to  those 
of  Cameron  and  of  his  disciples,  touching  Universal  Grace. 

Accordingly,  one  may  have  seen  in  this  history,  how  Melanc- 
thon  had  softened,  among  the  Lutherans,  that  extreme  rigor 
wherewith  Luther  maintained  absolute  and  particular  decrees, 
and  how  unanimously  it  is  taught  amongst  them,  that  God  wills 
seriously  and  sincerely  the  salvation  of  all  men  ;  that  he  offers 
them  Jesus  Christ  as  their  redeemer;  that  he  calls  them  to  him 

*  Traite  de  Coinniunion  sous  leg  deux  Especes.  part  ii,  ch.  xii.  La  Roq. 
Rep.  part  ii,  ch.  x^^i.  p.  307.  -j  Thcs.  de  q.  An  hom.  in  stat.  pecc.  solis  nat. 
viribus,  &c.  Th.  xxxi.  et  scq.  :j.  S.  n.  109.  S.  1.  viii.  n.  48,  ct  seq. 


236  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

by  preaching  and  the  promises  of  his  gospel ;  and  that  his  Spirit 
is  ever  ready  to  be  efficacious  in  them,  if  they  do  but  hearken 
to  his  word ;  that,  finally,  it  is  attributing  to  God  two  contrary 
wills,  to  say  on  one  side,  he  proposes  his  gospel  to  all  mankind  ; 
and  on  the  other,  that  he  will  save  but  a  very  small  number  of 
them.*  In  consequence  of  that  complaisance,  still  continued 
in  behalf  of  the  Lutherans,  John  Cameron  of  Scotland,  a  famous 
minister,  and  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  Academy  of  Saumur, 
there  taught  an  universal  vocation  and  grace,  declared  in  behalf 
of  all  mankind  by  the  wonders  of  God's  works,  by  his  word,  and 
the  Sacraments.  This  doctrine  of  Cameron  was  strenuously 
and  ingeniously  defended  by  his  disciples  Amiraud  and  Testard, 
professors  of  divinity  in  the  same  town.  This  entire  Academy 
embraced  it :  Du  MouHn  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  con- 
trary party,  and  engaged  in  this  sentiment  the  Academy  of  Sedan, 
where  he  ruled  uncontrolled  ;  and  in  our  days  we  have  seen  the 
whole  Reformation  divided  in  France,  with  much  warmth,  be- 
tween Saumur  and  Sedan.  In  spite  of  the  censures  of  the 
Synods,  which  suppressed  the  doctrine  of  universal  grace,  yet 
without  qualifying  it  as  heretical  or  erroneous,  the  most  learned 
ministers  undertook  to  defend  it.  Daille  made  its  apology,  to 
which  Blondel  put  a  preface  very  much  to  the  advantage  of  the 
abettor  of  this  sentiment ;  and  universal  grace  triumphed  even 
in  Sedan,  where  the  minister  Beaulieu  taught  it  in  our  days. 

118. — Whether  Universal  Grace  be  contrary  to  the  Synod  of  Dort. 
It  had  not  equal  success  out  of  this  kingdom,  particularly  in 
Holland,  where  it  was  judged  opposite  to  the  Synod  of  Dort. 
But  on  the  contrary,  Blondel  and  Daille  showed,|  that  the  di- 
vines of  Great  Britain  and  Bremen  had  maintained  in  the  Synod 
"  an  universal  will  and  intention"  of  saving  all  mankind,  a  suffi- 
cient grace  given  to  all ;  a  grace  without  which  one  could  not 
renew  in  himself  God's  image.  This  is  what  these  divines  had 
publicly  declared  in  the  Synod,  nor  did  they  merit  the  less  for  it 
the  praises  and  congratulations  of  this  whole  assembly. 

119. — Decree  passed  at  Geneva  against  Universal  Grace,  and  the  question  re- 
solved by  the  Magistrate. — Helvetic  Formulary. — 1669-1671. 

Geneva,  ever  attached  to  Calvin's  rigorous  propositions,  was 
very  averse  to  this  Universality,  which  nevertheless  was  carried 
into  its  very  bowels  by  the  French  ministers.  Every  family  was 
now  in  contention  for  or  against  it,  when  the  Magistrate  inter- 
posed. From  the  court  of  Twenty-five  it  was  carried  to  that 
of  the  Two  Hundred.     These  Magistrates  did  not  blush  to 

*  S.  1.  viii.  n.  22,  et  seq.  Epit.  Tit.  de  prsed.  Cone.  p.  617.  Solida  repetit. 
Cod.  Tit.  p.  804.  f  Dall.  Apol.  Tract,  part  ii.     Blond.  Act.  auth.  viii. 

ct  seq.  p.  77.  Jud.  The.  Mag.  Brit,  de  Art.  ii.  mter.  Act.  Syn.  Dord.  part 
ii.  p.  287.  Jud.  Brem.    Ibid.  p.  113,  et  seq. 


XIV.]  THE   VARIATIONS,    ETC.  237 

make  their  pastors  and  professors  enter  into  a  dispute  before  them, 
and  set  themselves  up  as  judges  in  a  question  of  the  most  re- 
lined  theology.  Powerful  recommendations  came  from  the 
Swiss  in  behalf  of  particular  grace  against  universal  grace  ; 
a  rigorous  decree  was  issued  in  condemnation  of  the  latter. 
They  published  the  formulary  of  a  divine  which  the  Swiss  ap- 
proved, wherein  the  system  of  universal  grace  was  declared 
*'  not  a  little  remote  from  the  sound  doctrine  revealed  in  Scrip- 
ture ;"  and  that  nothing  might  be  wanting  to  it,  the  sovereign 
magistrate  commanded  that  all  doctors,  ministers,  and  professors, 
should  subscribe  the  formulary  in  these  words  :  "  Thus  do  I 
believe  ;  thus  do  I  profess  ;  thus  will  I  teach."  This  is  no  sub- 
mission of  polity  and  order,  it  is  a  pure  act  of  faith  enjoined  by 
the  secular  authority ;  this  is  what  the  Reformation  ends  in, 
subjecting  the  Church  to  the  world,  learning  to  ignorance,  and 
faith  to  the  magistrate. 

120. — Another  decision  of  the  Helvetic  Formulary.,  concerning  the  Hebrew  text, 
which  the  learned  of  the  jtarty  laugh  at. — Variaiion  in  regard  to  the   Vulgate. 

This  Helvetic  formulary  had  also  another  clause,  wherein,  not 
concerning  themselves  with  the  Septuagint,  nor  the  Targums, 
nor  the  original  Samaritan,  nor  with  any  of  the  old  interpreters, 
nor  any  of  the  ancient  readings,  they  canonized  even  the  points 
of  the  Hebrew  text,  such  as  we  now  have  it,  declaring  it  un- 
tainted with  any  even  the  least  faults  of  the  transcriber,  and  clear 
from  all  injuries  of  tim^e.  The  authors  of  this  decree  were  not 
sensible  how  egregiously  they  exposed  themselves  to  the  laughter 
of  all  learned  men,  even  of  their  own  communion ;  but  they 
adhered  to  the  old  maxims  of  the  Reformation,  then  but  igno- 
rant. They  were  vexed  that  the  readings  of  the  Vulgate,  for- 
merly taken  by  them  for  so  many  falsifications,  were  daily  more 
and  more  approved  by  the  learned  of  the  party  ;  and  by  fixing 
the  original  text,  such  as  it  is  at  this  time,  they  thought  to  rid 
themselves  of  the  necessity  of  tradition,  never  reflecting  that, 
under  the  name  of  the  Hebrew  text,  instead  of  ecclesiastic  tra- 
ditions, and  that  of  the  ancient  Synagogue,  they  consecrated 
those  even  of  the  Rabbins. 

121. — Other  decisions  of  Geneva  and  the  Swiss  hoio  much  cojidemned  by  M, 

Claude. 

Another  decree  passed  also  at  Geneva  concerning  Faith  in 
1675,  wherein  was  confinned  that  of  1649,  whereby  they  added 
two  new  Articles  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  ;  the  first,  import- 
ing "  that  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  was  anterior  to  corrup- 
tion ;"  the  second,  "that,  in  the  economy  of  the  divine  decrees, 
the  sending  of  Jesus  Christ  is  after  the  decree  of  election." 
They  ordered  fliat  all  those  who  should  refuse  to  subscribe  these 


238  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

two  new  articles  of  Faith,  should  be  excluded  and  deposed  from 
the  ministry  and  all  ecclesiastical  functions. 

This  decision  was  judged  very  odd  even  in  the  party,  and 
Turretin,  minister  and  professor  at  Geneva,  was  greatly  up- 
braided for  it  by  M.  Claude,*  as  appears  by  a  letter  of  this 
minister  dated  the  twentieth  of  June,  1675,  which  Lewis  du 
Moulin,  son  to  the  minister  Peter  du  Moulin,  and  uncle  to  the 
minister  Jurieu,  caused  to  be  printed. 

M.  Claude  complains  in  this  letter,!  "  that  the  Swiss  were 
solicited  to  draw  up  a  Formulary  conformable  to  that  of  Geneva, 
containing  the  same  points  and  the  same  restrictions,  in  order 
to  be  added  to  their  Confession  of  Faith  :"  and  it  is  plain  from 
a  remark  of  Du  Moulin,  inserted  in  the  same  letter,^  that  the 
Swiss  had  in  fact  struck  this  stroke  which  M.  Claude  judged 
so  terrible. 

Nevertheless,  the  same  minister  maintains  that  it  is  not  law- 
ful to  add  thus§  "  new  articles  of  Faith  to  those  of  his  Confes- 
sion ;  and  that  it  is  dangerous  to  remove  the  ancient  landmarks 
which  have  been  set  by  our  fathers."  ||  I  would  to  God  our 
Reformed  had  always  had  before  their  eyes  this  maxim  of 
the  wise  man,  which  they  so  frequently  are  obliged  to  return 
to,  in  order  to  terminate  the  divisions  they  see  daily  breed- 
ing in  the  midst  of  them !  M.  Claude  proposes  it  to  those 
of  Geneva,^  and  is  astonished  that  this  Church  "  should  thus 
make  new  articles  of  Faith  and  new  laws  of  preaching :"  he 
makes  bold  to  say,**  that  acting  in  this  manner  is  setting  up 
gods  of  their  own,  and  breaking  unity  with  all  the  Churches 
which  are  not  of  their  own  opinion  :  to  wit  "  with  those  of 
France,  with  those  of  England,  with  those  of  Poland,  of  Prussia, 
and  Germany ;"  that  the  matter  in  hand  is  not  of  mere  disci- 
pline, in  which  Churches  may  be  allowed  to  vary,  but  that  it  is 
separating  themselves  in||  "  points  of  doctrine  unalterable  in 
their  nature,  which  they  cannot,  with  a  good  conscience,  teach 
differently  :"  so  that  this  is  not  only  "  setting  up  for  themselves 
a  particular  ministry,"  but  also  sowing  "  the  seeds  of  a  fatal 
division"  in  faith  itself,  and,  in  short,  "  shutting  their  hearts" 
aoainst  other  Churches. 

If  now  one  should  be  desirous  to  know  to  what  length  Geneva 
carried  her  rigor,  he  will  be  informed  from  the  same  letter :  JJ 
for  it  specifies,  *'  that  the  signing  of  the  articles  was  exacted 
with  an  inconceivable  severity,  and  exacted  even  from  those 
who  came  to  Geneva  to  be  ordained  with  the  design  of  serving 
elsewhere  ;  that  the  same  necessity  of  subscription  was  laid  on 

*  Fascic.  Ep.  1676,  pp.  83,  94.  f  Ibid.  p.  95.  J  P.  101.  §  Ibid, 
p.  15.  II  Prov.  xxii.  28.  IT  Fascic.  Ep.  p.  89.  ++  Pp.  90,  91,  98, 

103.        ft  Ibid.  pp.  93,  100.        J j  Fascic.  Ep.  pp.  94,  95. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  239 

them  as  on  those  of  Geneva  itself;  that  it  was  exacted  with  the 
same  rigor  from  pastors  aheady  received,  notwithstanding  they 
had  ah-eady  grown  old  in  the  labors  of  the  ministry :"  and  this, 
says  M.  Claude,*  "  is,  as  much  as  in  them  lies,  wresting  every 
where  the  cure  from  those  that  are  of  different  opinions,  namely, 
from  all  the  rest  of  the  Churches^  and  condemning  themselves, 
as  having  hitherto  maintained  as  unjust  peace  with  people  against 
whom  they  ought  to  have  declared  war." 

All  these  remonstrances  were  of  no  effect ;  the  church  of 
Geneva  stood  firm,  no  less  than  that  of  the  Swiss,  both  of  them 
in  the  notion  that  their  determinations  were  grounded  on  the 
word  of  God  :  which  still  continues  to  make  it  manifest  that, 
under  the  covert  of  this  word,  it  is  his  own  conceits  every  man 
pays  worship  to  ;  and  if  they  have  no  other  principle  whereby 
to  agree  in  the  sense  of  this  word,  there  never  will  be  amongst 
their  Churches  any  other  than  a  political  and  exterior  union, 
such  as  subsists  with  those  of  Geneva,  who  in  the  main  have 
broken  off  from  all  the  rest ;  and  in  order  to  find  something 
fixed,  it  is  necessary,  after  M.  Claude's  example,  that  they 
should  be  brought  back  to  this  maxim  of  the  wise  man,  "  not 
to  remove  the  landmarks  set  them  by  their  forefathers  ;"|  that 
is,  they  must  hold  to  the  decisions  already  made  by  those  in 
matters  of  faith. 

122. — The  Test  Act  in  England :  therein  the  English  approach  to  our  senti- 
ments, and  only,  through  manifest  error,  condemn  the  Church  of  Rome. 

The  famous  Test  well  deserves  a  place  in  this  history,  foras- 
much as  it  was  one  of  the  principal  acts  of  Religion  in  Eng- 
land. The  parliament  held  at  London  in  1678,  passed  an  Act 
enjoining  the  following  declaration.  "  I,  A.  B.  do  solemnly 
and  sincerely,  in  the  presence  of  God,  profess,  testify,  and  de- 
clare, that  I  do  believe  that  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  there  is  not  any  transubstantiation  of  the  elements  of 
bread  and  wine  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  at  or  after 
the  consecration,  by  any  person  whatsoever  ;  and  that  the  in- 
vocation or  adoration  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  any  other  saint, 
and  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  as  they  are  now  used  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  are  superstitious  and  idolatrous,  &c."  The 
particulars  to  be  observed  in  this  Profession  of  Faith,  are  first, 
that  it  only  attacks  Transubstantiation  and  not  the  Real  Presence, 
wherein  it  follows  the  amendment  which  Elizabeth  had  made 
in  the  Reformation  of  Edward  the  Sixth.  There  are  only  added 
to  it  these  words,  "  at  or  after  the  Consecration,"  which  mani- 
festly allow  the  belief  of  the  Real  Presence  before  the  mandu- 
cation,  since  they  exclude  nothing,  as  is  plain,  but  the  sole 
change  of  substance. 

♦  Pp.  97,  100.  t  Prov.  xxii.  28. 


240  THE  HISTORY  OP  [bOOK 

Thus,  a  good  English  Protestant,  without  blemish  to  his  reli 
gion  or  conscience,  may  believe  that  the  body  and  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  are  really  and  substantially  present  in  the  bread 
and  wine  immediately  after  consecration.  If  the  Lutherans  be- 
heved  as  much,  it  is  certain  they  would  adore  him.  Neither  do 
the  English  place  any  obstacle  to  it  in  their  Test :  and  as  they 
receive  the  Eucharist  kneeling,  nothing  hinders  their  acknowl- 
edging and  worshipping  Jesus  Christ  there  present,  in  the  same 
spirit  that  we  do  :  after  this,  to  cavil  with  us  about  Transubstan- 
tiation,  is  a  proceeding  little  worthy  of  them. 

In  the  following  words  of  the  Test,  the  Invocation,  or  as  they 
call  it,  the  Adoration  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  saints,  with 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  are  condemned  as  acts  of  "supersti- 
tion and  idolatry  :"  not  absolutely,  but  "  as  they  are  now  used 
in  the  church  of  Rome."  But  the  reason  of  this  was,  that  the 
Enghsh  are  too  well  versed  in  antiquity  to  be  ignorant,  that  the 
Fathers  of  the  fourth  century  (to  ascend  no  higher  at  present) 
did  invoke  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  saints.  They  know  that 
St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum  approves  expressly,  in  the  mouth  of 
a  martyr,  that  piety  which  moved  her  to  beg  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  "  that  she  would  assist  a  Virgin  engaged  in  danger."* 
They  know  that  all  the  Fathers  have  made,  and  solemnly  ap- 
proved in  their  Homilies,  the  like  invocations  addressed  to  saints : 
nay,  in  respect  of  them,  have  even  used  the  word  Invocation."!* 
As  for  that  of  adoration,  they  know  likewise,  it  is  equivocal  no 
less  among  the  holy  Fathers  than  in  Scripture  ;  and  does  not 
always  signify,  rendering  to  a  person  divine  honors ;  and  for 
this  reason  also  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum  made  no  difficulty, 
in  many  places,  of  saying  that  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  were 
adored,  and  that  God  did  not  disdain  to  confirm  such  an  adora- 
tion by  miracles.  The  English  are  too  well  read  in  antiquity 
to  be  ignorant  of  this  doctrine  and  these  practices  of  the  ancient 
Church,  and  bear  her  too  great  a  veneration  to  accuse  her  of 
superstition  and  idolatry  :  it  is  this  which  makes  them  use  this 
restriction,  which  we  observe  in  their  Test,  and  suppose,  in  the 
church  of  Rome,  a  kind  of  invocation  and  adoration  different 
from  that  of  the  Fathers,  because  they  were  very  sensible,  with- 
out this  precaution,  the  Test  would  be  no  more  subscribed  with 
a  good  conscience  by  the  learned  Protestants  than  by  Catholics. 

Nevertheless  it  is  certain,  as  to  the  fact,  that  we  demand 
nothing  of  the  saints  but  the  partnership  of  their  prayers,  no  more 
than  the  ancients  did  :  and  that  we  honor  nothing  in  their  relics, 
but  what  they  honored  in  them.  If  we  sometimes  entreat  the 
Saints,  not  to  pray,  but  to  give  and  act,  the  learned  among  the 

*  Orat.  in.  Cyp.  Basil.  Orat.  in  Mam.  f  Greg.  Nyss.  Orat.  in  Theo. 

Amb.  Serm.  de.  S.  Vit.  Greg.  Naz.  Orat.  in  Jul.  i.  in  Machab.  &c. 


XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  241 

English  will  agree  that  the  ancients  have  done  it  Hke  us,*  and 
like  us  have  understood  it  in  that  sense  which  attributes  favors 
received,  not  only  to  the  Sovereign  that  distributes  them,  but 
also  to  the  intercessors  who  obtain  them  :  so  that  there  never 
will  be  found  any  real  difference  between  the  ancients,  whom 
the  Enghsh  will  not  condemn,  and  us,  whom  they  do  condemn, 
but  through  mistake,  and  by  laying  to  our  charge  what  we  do 
not  believe. 

I  say  the  same  of  the  sacrifice  of  Mass.  The  Enghsh  are 
better  skilled  in  antiquity  than  to  be  ignorant  that  in  all  times 
the  same  gifts  were  offered  to  God,  in  the  sacred  mysteries  and 
the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist,  as  were  afterwards  distributed 
to  the  peo])le,  and  that  these  were  offered  to  him  no  less  for  the 
dead  than  for  the  living.  The  ancient  Liturgies  containing  the 
form  of  this  oblation,  as  well  in  the  east  as  west,  are  in  the  hands 
of  every  one,  and  the  English  are  far  from  accusing  them  either 
of  superstition  or  idolatry.  There  is  then  a  way  of  offering 
to  God  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead, 
which  the  Protestant  Church  of  England  judges  neither  super- 
stitious nor  idolatrous  :  and  if  they  reject  the  Roman  Mass,  it 
is  by  supposing  that  it  is  different  from  that  of  the  ancients. 

But  this  difference  is  none  at  all ;  one  drop  of  water  is  not 
more  like  another,  than  the  Roman  Mass  is  like,  as  to  its  essence 
and  substance,  to  the  Mass  which  the  Greeks  and  the  rest  of 
Christians  received  from  their  forefathers.  For  which  reason 
the  church  of  Rome,  when  she  admits  them  to  her  communion, 
does  not  prescribe  another  Mass  to  them.  Thus  the  Roman 
Church  has  not,  in  the  main,  another  sacrifice  than  that  which, 
by  the  confession  of  the  English  Protestants  themselves,  was 
offered  in  the  east  and  west  ever  since  the  beginning  of 
Christianity. 

Hence  it  clearly  follows  that  the  Roman  doctrine,  as  well 
concerning  Invocation  and  Adoration,  as  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,  is  no  otherwise  condemned  in  the  Test,  than  by  presup- 
posing that  Rome  receives  these  things  in  another  sense,  and 
practises  them  in  another  spirit,  than  that  of  the  Fathers  ;  which 
visibly  is  not  so  :  so  that  readily,  and  without  alleging  further 
reasons,  we  may  say,  that  abrogating  the  Test  would  be  nothing 
else  but  abrogating  a  notorious  calumny  fixed  on  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

+  Greg.  Naz.  Orat.  funeb.  Ath.  et  Basil,  &c. 
VOL.  II.  21 


242  THE    HISTORY   OP  [bOOK 

BOOK  XV. 

[Variations  in  the  Article  of  the  Creed :  I  believe  the  Holy  Catholic  Church. — 
The  unshaken  steadiness  of  the  Church  of  Rome.] 

A  brief  Summary. — An  account  of  the  Variations  relating  to  the  subject  of 
the  Church. — She  is  naturally  owned  to  be  Visible. — The  difficulty  of 
showing  where  the  Church  was,  forced  men  upon  the  device  of  an  Invis- 
ible one. — The  perpetual  VisibiUty  of  it  necessarily  confessed. — Divers 
means  of  saving  the  Reformation  under  this  supposition. — The  state  of  the 
question,  as,  by  the  disputes  of  the  Ministers  Claude  and  Jurieu,  it  stands 
at  present. — They  are  at  length  forced  to  own  that  salvation  may  be  still 
had  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  well  as  before  the  pretended  Reformation. 
— Strange  Variations,  and  the  Confessions  of  Faith  despised. — Advantages 
yielded  to  Catholics  on  the  necessary  foundation  of  Jesus  Christ's  promises 
in  favor  of  perpetual  Visibihty. — The  Church  owned  to  be  infalUble. — 
Her  sentiments  acknowledged  to  be  an  infaUible  rule  of  Faith. — Vain 
exceptions. — All  the  proofs  against  tire  infallible  authority  of  the  Church 
brought  to  nothing  by  the  Ministers. — Evidence  and  simplicity  of  the 
Catholic  doctrine  with  regard  to  the  Church. — The  Reformation  for- 
sakes her  first  groundwork,  by  owning  that  Faith  is  not  formed  on  the 
Scriptures. — Consent  of  the  Ministers  Claude  and  Jurieu  on  this  tenet. — 
Unheard  of  absurdities  of  the  new  system  concerning  the  Church,  but  ne- 
cessary to  defend  themselves  against  the  objections  of  the  Catholics. — The 
uniformity  and  constancy  of  the  Catholic  Church  opposed  to  the  Varia- 
tions of  the  Protestant  Churches. — Abridgment  of  this  fifteenth  Book. — 
Conclusion  of  the  whole  Work. 

1. — The  cause  of  Variations,  in  Protestant  Churches,  is  their  want  of  a  true 
notion  ofivhat  the  Church  is. 

As,  after  observing  the  pernicious  effects  of  a  distemper  on 
man's  body,  the  cause  of  it  is  diligently  inquired  into,  in  order 
to  apply  specific  remedies  :  in  like  manner,  after  seeing  that 
perpetual  instability  of  Protestant  Churches,  (the  disastrous  dis- 
temper of  Christendom,)  the  prime  source  thereof  ought  to  be 
traced  out,  to  the  end  that  a  suitable  relief,  if  possible,  may  be 
afforded.  The  cause  of  those  variations,  which  we  have  ob- 
served in  separate  societies,  is  their  not  having  known  the  au- 
thority of  the  Church,  the  promises  she  has  received  from  heaven, 
nor,  in  short,  so  much  as  what  the  Church  is.  For  that  was 
the  fixed  point,  in  which  all  the  steps  they  were  to  take  ought 
to  centre  ;  and  by  deviating  from  tliis,  heretics,  either  curious  or 
ignorant,  have  been  bewildered  in  the  mazes  of  human  reason- 
ing, abandoned  to  their  resentments,  to  their  particular  passions ; 
the  very  reason  they  did  but  walk  groping  even  in  their  confes- 
sions of  faith,  and  could  not  shun  falling  under  the  two  inconve- 
niences specified  by  St.  Paul  concerning  false  teachers ;  one 
of  which  is  "  to  be  condemned  by  their  own  judgment  ;"*  and 
the  other,  "  to  be  ever  learning,  and  never  able  to  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth. "| 
2. — The  Catholic  Church  ever  knew  herself,  and  never  varied  in  her  Decisions. 

This  original  cause  of  the  instability  of  the  pretended  Refor- 
*Tit.  iii.  11.  t2Tim.  iii.  7. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  243 

mation  has  appeared  through  the  whole  series  of  this  work  :  but 
it  is  time  to  observe  it  with  particular  attention,  by  showing,  in 
the  confused  sentiments  of  our  separated  brethren,  relating  to 
the  article  of  the  Church,  the  variations  which  have  caused  all 
the  rest :  after  that  we  shall  finish  this  discourse,  by  showing  a 
quite  contrary  procedure  in  the  Catholic  Church,  which,  from 
well  knowing  what  she  was  through  the  grace  of  Christ  Jesus, 
has  always  so  well  delivered  herself  at  the  very  first  in  all  ques- 
tions that  arose,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  faith  of  Christians,  that 
there  never  happened  a  necessity,  I  do  not  say  of  varying,  but 
of  deliberating  anew,  or  of  departing  in  the  least  tittle  from  the 
first  plan. 

3. — Doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  concerning  the  Article  of  the  Church. — 
Four  points  essential  and  inseparable  one  from  the  other. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  consists  in  four  points, 
whose  connexion  is  inviolable  :*  the  first,  that  the  Church  is 
visible  ;  the  second,  that  she  is  perpetual ;  the  third,  that  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel  is  always  professed  therein  by  the  whole 
society  ;  the  fourth,  that  it  is  unlawful  to  depart  from  her  doc- 
trine :  which  is  as  much  as  to  say,  in  other  terms,  that  she  is 
infallible. 

The  first  point  is  grounded  on  a  certain  fact :  which  is,  that 
the  word  Church  always  signifies  in  Scripture,  and,  therefore, 
in  the  common  language  of  the  faithful,  a  visible  society :  Ca- 
tholics take  this  for  granted,  and  it  was  necessary  for  Protestants 
to  assent  to  it,  as  will  appear  hereafter. 

The  second  point,  that  the  Church  is  perpetual,  is  not  less 
certain,  it  being  grounded  on  Jesus  Christ's  promises  agreed  on 
by  all  parties. 

Hence  the  third  point  is  inferred  most  clearly,  that  the  truth  is 
professed  always  by  the  society  of  the  Church  ;  for  the  Church 
being  no  otherwise  visible  than  by  the  profession  of  the  truth,  it 
follows,  that  if  she  be  always,  and  always  be  visible,  she  cannot 
but  always  teach  and  profess  the  truth  of  the  Gospel :  from 
whence  the  fourth  point  is  as  clearly  deduced,  that  it  is  not  allow- 
able to  say  the  Church  is  in  error,  nor  to  forsake  her  doctrine  ; 
and  all  this  is  founded  on  the  promise  allowed  by  all  parties, 
since,  in  fine,  the  same  promise,  which  makes  the  Church  be 
always,  makes  her  always  be  in  that  state  which  the  word  Church 
implies ;  consequently  always  visible,  and  always  teaching  the 
truth.  Nothing  is  more  simple,  more  clear,  nor  more  coherent 
than  this  doctrine. 

4. — Sentiments  of  the  Protestants  touching  the  perpetual  visibility  of  the  Church. 
— The  Confession  of  Augsburg. 

So  clear  is  this  doctrine,  that  Protestants  could  not  deny  it ; 
*  Conf.  avec  M.  CI.  p.  13,  et  seq. 


244  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

SO  clearly  does  it  condemn  them,  that  they  durst  not  own  it : 
wherefore,  their  whole  thoughts  were  bent  on  perplexing  it,  nor 
were  they  able  to  avoid  falling  into  the  contradictions  I  am  about 
to  relate. 

Let  us,  in  the  first  place  look  into  their  confessions  of  faith ; 
and  to  begin  with  that  of  Augsburg,*  which  is  the  first,  and  as 
it  were  the  foundation  of  all  the  rest, — the  article  concerning  the 
Church  was  thus  delivered  by  it :  "  We  teach  that  there  is  a 
holy  Church  which  must  eternally  subsist."  What  now  is  that 
Church  whose  duration  is  eternal  1  The  following  words  explain 
it :  "  The  Church  is  the  assembly  of  saints,  wherein  the  Gospel 
is  rightly  taught,  and  the  sacraments  rightly  administered." 

Here  may  be  seen  three  fundamental  truths.  First,  "  that 
the  Church  subsists  always  :"  there  is  then  an  inviolate  succes- 
sion. Second,  that  she  is  essentially  compounded  of  pastors 
and  people,  the  administration  of  the  sacraments  and  preaching 
of  the  word  entering  into  her  very  definition.  Third,  that  the 
word  and  sacraments  are  not  only  therein  administered,  but 
rightly  administered,  recte,  "  as  they  ought  to  be  ;"  which  also 
enters  into  the  essence  of  a  Church,  since  it  is  placed,  as  we  see, 
in  her  definition. 

5. — This  doctrine  owned  by  Protestants  is  the  subversion  of  their  Reformationj 
and  the  source  of  their  perplexities. 

Now,  this  being  admitted,  the  question  is,  how  they  can  pos- 
sibly accuse  the  Church  of  error,  either  in  doctrine  or  in  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments  ;  for,  could  that  happen,  the  definition 
of  the  Church  wherein  is  placed  not  only  preaching,  but  true 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  not  only  administration,  but  the 
right  administration  of  the  sacraments,  would  be  false  ;  and  if 
that  cannot  happen,  the  Reformation,  which  accused  the  Church 
of  error,  carried  in  her  very  title  her  own  condemnation. 

Observe  well  the  difficulty  :  for  this  was  the  first  source,  in 
the  Protestant  Churches,  of  those  contradictions  we  shall  dis- 
cover in  them ;  but  contradictions,  which  the  remedies  they 
thought  to  find  for  the  defect  of  their  original,  made  them  but 
plunge  the  deeper  into.  In  the  meanwhile,  till  the  series  of 
facts  lead  us  to  these  fruitless  remedies,  let  us  endeavor 
thoroughly  to  make  known  the  evil. 

6. — What  it  loas  precisely  that  the  Protestants  did  oblige  themselves  to  by  this 

Doctrine. 

On  this  foundation  of  the  seventh  article  of  the  Confession 

of  Augsburg,  the  Lutherans  were  asked,  what  it  was  they  came 

to  reform  1    "  The  Church  of  Rome,"  said  they.    But  have  you 

any  other  Church  wherein  the  doctrine  you  would  estabUsh  is 

professed  1     It  was  a  fact  incontestable  that  they  could  show 

*  Conf.  Aug.  Art.  vii. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  245 

none.  "WTiere  was  then  that  Church,  in  which,  by  your  seventh 
article,  the  true  preaching  of  God's  word,  and  the  right  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments,  were  always  to  subsist?  To  name 
some  doctors  here  and  there,  and  from  time  to  time,  who,  as 
you  pretend,  have  taught  your  doctrine,  allowing  the  fact  proved, 
yet  would  be  nothing  to  the  purpose :  for  it  was  a  body  of  a 
Church  you  were  to  show,  a  body  wherein  truth  was  preached, 
and  wherein  the  sacraments  were  administered;  by  consequence, 
a  body  compounded  of  pastors  and  of  people  ;  a  body,  in  this 
respect,  always  visible.  This  is  what  must  be  shown,  and,  con- 
sequently, there  must  be  shown  in  this  body  a  manifest  succes- 
sion both  of  doctrine  and  of  ministry. 

7. — Perpetual  Visibility  of  the  Church  Confirmed  by  the  .Apology  of  the 
Jlugsburg  Confession. 

At  the  recital  of  the  seventh  article  of  the  Confession  of 
Augsburg,  the  Catholics  found  fault  with  their  defining  the 
Church  "the  assembly  of  saints ;"  and  said,  that  sinners  and 
hypocrites,  who  are  united  to  the  Church  by  the  external  bands, 
ought  not  to  be  excluded  from  their  unity.  Melancthon  ac- 
counted for  this  doctrine  in  the  Apology,*  and  it  is  not  impos- 
sible that  might  be  a  dispute  as  much  about  words  as  things  ; 
but  without  stopping  at  this,  let  us  but  observe,  they  persisted 
to  sayl  that  the  Church  was  ahvays  to  last,  and  to  last  always 
visible,  preaching  and  the  sacraments  being  essential  to  her ; 
for  let  us  hear  how  they  speak  :  J  "  The  Catholic  Church  is  not 
an  exterior  society  of  certain  nations,  but  it  is  men  dispersed 
all  over  the  universe,  who  have  the  same  sentiments  with  regard 
to  the  Gospel,  who  have  the  same  Christ,  the  same  Holy  Ghost, 
and  the  same  Sacraments."  And  still  more  expressly  a  little 
after,§  "  We  never  have  dreamed  that  the  Church  was  a  Pla- 
tonic city  not  to  be  found  on  earth  ;  we  say  that  the  Church  ex- 
ists, that  in  it  there  are  true  believers,  and  men  truly  just  spread 
over  all  the  universe  ;  we  add  to  this,  its  marks,  the  pure  Gos- 
pel, and  the  Sacraments,  and  it  is  such  a  Church  that  is  properly 
the  pillar  of  truth."  Here,  then,  at  least,  unquestionably  is  a 
Church  very  really  existing  ;  very  really  visible,  wherein  sound 
doctrine  is  very  really  preached,  and  the  Sacraments  very  really 
administered  as  they  ought  to  be  ;  for,  as  they  subjoin,  the 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  cannot  subsist  but  with  the  word  and 
sacraments,  so  that  where  they  are  not,  there  can  he  no  Church.  || 

8. — How  they  endeavored  to  make  this  Doctrine  consist  with  the  necessity  of  a 

Reformation. 

Notwithstanding,  many  human  traditions,  said  they,  had  crept 
into  the  Church,  whereby  sound  doctrine  and  the  right  admin- 

+  Apol.  Tit.  de  Ecc.  p.  144.  f  Ibid.  pp.  14.5,  146.  |  Ibid. 

§  Ibid.  p.  48.  II  Ibid.  p.  156. 

VOL.   I!.  21* 


248  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

istration  of  the  sacraments  was  changed ;  and  this  was  what 
they  would  reform.  But  if  these  human  traditions  were  turned 
in  the  Church  into  articles  of  faith,  where  could  be  that  purity 
of  the  word  and  doctrine,  without  which  she  could  not  subsist? 
Here  the  thing  was  to  be  palliated,  and  accordingly  they  said,* 
as  has  been  seen,  that  their  design  was  not  to  combat  against 
"  the  Catholic  Church,  nor  even  the  Church  of  Rome,  nor  to 
maintain  opinions  which  the  Church  had  condemned  ;"  that  the 
matter  in  debate  was  no  more  than  some  few  abuses  brought 
into  the  Church  without  any  certain  authority  ;  nor  was  that  to 
be  taken  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  was 
approved  of  only  by  the  Pope,  some  cardinals,  some  bishops, 
and  some  monks. 

To  hear  the  Lutherans  speak  thus,  one  might  think  they  did 
not  impugn  the  received  dogmas,  but  some  particular  opinions 
only,  and  some  few  abuses  lately  crept  in  without  authority. 
This  but  little  suited  with  those  outrageous  invectives  of  sacri- 
lege and  idolatry,  with  which  they  filled  the  whole  universe, 
much  less  with  an  open  rupture.  But  the  fact  is  certain,  and 
by  these  smooth  words  they  endeavored  to  salve  the  inconsist- 
ency of  owning  corruption  in  the  tenets  of  the  Church,  after  hav- 
ing made  a  pure  preaching  of  the  truth  essential  to  her. 

9. — The  perpetual  Visibility  ccmfirmed  in  the  Articles  of  Smcdcald  by  the  pro- 
mises of  Jesus  Christ. 

This  immutability  and  perpetual  duration  of  sound  doctrine 

was  confirmed  in  the  articles  of  Smalcald,|  subscribed  by  the 

whole  Lutheran  party,  explaining  those  words  of  our  Saviour : 

*'  On  this  rock  will  I  build  my  Church,"  namely,  said  they,  "  on 

this  ministry  of  the  profession  made  by  Peter."     Thereunto 

preaching,  and  true  preaching,  was  therefore  necessary,  without 

which  they  owned  the  Church  could  not  subsist. 

10. — The  Saxo7iic  Confession,  in  which  they  begin  to  spy  mit  the  diffi>culty  xoitlv- 
out  departing  from  the  precedent  doctrine. 

Now  we  are  upon  the  subject  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Lutheran 
Churches,  the  Saxonic  Confession,  known  to  be  Melancthon's, 
opportunely  presents  itself.  In  it  is  acknowledged  that  "  there 
is  always  some  true  Church ;  that  the  promises  of  God,  who 
hath  promised  her  duration,  are  immutable  ;  that  they  speak 
not  of  the  Church  as  of  a  Platonic  idea,  but  point  out  a  Church 
which  is  seen  and  heard ;  and  that  she  is  visible  in  this  life,  and 
is  the  assembly  which  embraces  the  Gospel  of  Christ  Jesus, 
and  which  has  the  true  use  of  the  Sacraments,  in  which  God 
operates  efficaciously  by  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  and  wherein 
many  are  regenerated. "J 

*  S.  lib.  iii.  n.  59.  f  Art.  Smal.  Concord,  p.  345. 

X  Cap.  de  Ecc.  Syn.  Gen.  part  ii.  p.  72. 


■ct 


XV.J  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  247 

They  add,  "  she  may  be  reduced  to  a  small  number ;  yet, 
however,  there  is  always  a  remnant  of  the  faithful,  whose  voice 
makes  itself  be  heard  on  earth,  and  of  which  God,  from  time  to 
time,  renews  the  ministry."  They  must  mean  that  he  continues 
it ;  for  the  definition  of  the  Church  which,  as  just  said,  cannot 
subsist  without  the  ministry,  does  not  allow  its  interruption  even 
for  a  moment ;  and  immediately  after  it  is  subjoined,*  "  that 
God  will  have  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel  be  public  ;  he  will  not 
have  preaching  shut  up  in  darkness,  but  heard  by  all  mankind  ; 
and  that  there  are  assemblies  where  it  may  resound,  and  where 
his  name  may  be  praised  and  invoked." 

Here  then  you  see  the  Church  always  visible.  True  it  is, 
they  begin  to  see  the  difficulty  when  saying,  "  she  may  be  re- 
duced to  a  small  number;"  but  after  all,  the  Lutherans  have  not 
less  difficulty  in  showing,  at  Luther's  first  appearance,  a  small 
society  of  their  sentiments  than  a  great  one,  and  yet  without 
that  there  is  neither  ministry  nor  Church. 

11. — Doctrine  of  the  Confession  of  Wirtemburg,  and  the  perpetual  Visibility 

alio  ays  maintained. 

The  Confession  of  Wirtemburg,  which  was  penned  by  Bren- 
tius,  does  not  degenerate  from  this  doctrine,  it  being  there  ac- 
knowledged "  that  there  is  a  Church  so  well  governed  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that,  although  weak,  she  lasts  for  ever  ;  that  she 
judges  of  doctrine ;  and  is  where  the  Gospel  is  sincerely 
preached,  and  where  the  sacraments  are  administered  accord- 
ing to  Christ's  institution."!  The  difficulty  still  remained  of 
showing  us  a  Church  and  a  society  of  pastors  and  people  wherein 
sound  doctrine  had  always  been  preserved  to  Luther's  days. 

The  next  chapter  relates  how  councils  may  err ;  by  reason 
that,  although  Jesus  Christ  has  promised  his  Church  the  per- 
petual presence  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  nevertheless,  "  every  as- 
sembly is  not  the  Church ;"  and  it  may  happen  in  the  Church, 
as  in  bodies  politic,  that  the  greater  number  of  bad  men  may 
prevail  over  the  good.  This  is  what  I  shall  not  dispute  at  pres- 
ent ;  but  I  still  insist  on  their  showing  me  a  Church,  little  or 
great,  which,  before  Luther's  coming,  was  of  his  sentiments. 
12. — The  Confession  of  Bohemia. 

The  Confession  of  Bohemia  is  approved  by  Luther.  Therein 
is  confessed;|;  "  a  Holy  and  Catholic  Church,  which  compre- 
hends all  Christians  dispersed  throughout  all  the  earth,  which 
are  assembled  by  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  the  faith  of  the 
Trinity  and  of  Jesus  Christ :  wheresoever  Jesus  Christ  is 
preached  and  received,  and  wheresoever  are  the  words  and  sa- 
craments according  to  the  rule  by  him  prescribed,  there  is  the 

*  Cap.  de  Coen.  p.  72.     f  Cap.  de  Ecc.  Ibid.  p.  132.  Ibid.  c.  de  Cone.  p.  134. 
I  Syn.  Gen.  Art.  viii.  p.  186 


248  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

Church."  These  men  at  least  were  fully  satisfied  that  when 
they  were  born  there  was  no  Church  in  the  whole  universe  of 
their  belief;*  for  the  deputies  despatched  by  them  every  where 
on  that  errand,  had  well  assured  them  of  it.  And  yet  they  durst 
not  say  their  assembly,  such  as  it  was,  little  or  great,  was  the 
holy,  universal  Church  ;  but  only  that  "  she  was  a  member  and 
a  part  thereof."!  But  what  then  was  become  of  all  the  other 
parts  ?  They  had  surveyed  all  corners  of  the  world,  and  no 
tidin  ;;s  of  them  :  sad  extremes  indeed  !  not  to  dare  to  say  they 
were  the  Universal  Church,  and  dare  still  less  to  say  that  they 
had  met  with  brethren  and  partners  of  their  faith  in  any  part  what- 
soever of  the  whole  universe. 

Be  that  as  it  will,  these  are  the  first  that  seem  to  insinuate  in 
a  Cotifession  of  Faith,  that  true  Christian  Churches  might  be 
separated  from  one  another,  since  they  dare  not  exclude  from 
Catholic  unity,  those  Churches  with  whom  they  knew  they  had 
no  communion ;  which  I  beg  may  be  remarked,  by  reason  that 
this  doctrine  will  at  length  be  the  last  resource  of  Protestants, 
as  shall  appear  hereafter. 

13. — The  Confession  of  Strasburg. 

We  have  seen  the  Confession  of  the  Lutherans  regarding  the 
Church  :  we  shall  now  hear  the  other  party.  The  Confession 
of  Strasburg,  presented  as  before  observed,  to  Charles  V,  at  the 
same  time  with  that  of  Augsburg,  defines  the  Church,^  "  the 
society  of  those  who  have  enlisted  themselves  soldiers  of  Jesus 
Christ,  amongst  whom  are  mixed  many  hypocrites."  There  is 
no  doubt  that  such  a  society  is  visible — that  she  must  always 
abide  in  this  state  of  visibility, — it  being  added,  "  that  Jesus 
Christ  does  never  abandon  her  ;  that  those  who  do  not  hear  her, 
ought  to  be  held  for  heathens  and  publicans  ;  that,  indeed,  there 
is  no  seeing  what  constitutes  her  a  Church,  namely,  her  faith  ; 
yet  she  makes  herself  be  seen  by  her  fruits,  amongst  which 
confession  of  the  truth  is  one." 

Tiie  following  chapter  sets  forth§  how  that  "  the  Church  being 
on  earth  in  the  flesh,  God  also  will  instruct  her  by  the  exterior 
word,  and  make  her  faithful  members  preserve  an  exterior  so- 
ciety by  means  of  the  sacraments."  There  are  then  necessarily 
both  pastors  and  people,  nor  can  the  Church  subsist  without  this 
ministry. 

14. — Tioo  Confessions  of  Bcisil. 

The  Confession  of  Basil  in  1536  says,||  "that  the  Catholic 
Church  is  the  holy  congiegation  of  all  the  saints  ;  and  although 
unknown  to  any  but  God,  nevertheless  is  she  seen,  is  she  known, 
is  she  constituted  by  external  rites  of  God's  appointment :  to  wit, 

*  S.  1.  xi.  n.  176.  t  Syn.  Gen.  p.  187.  J  Conf.  Argent,  c.  xv.  de  Eccl. 
Synt.  Gen.  part  i.  p.  191.  §  Ibid.  cap.  xvi.  ||  Ibid.  Art.  14, 15. 


f« 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  249 

by  the  sacraments,  and  by  the  public  and  lawful  preaching  of 
liis  word  ;"  wherein  is  seen  manifestly,  that  ministers  la\vfully 
called  are  comprehended,  by  whom  it  is  also  added,  "  God  makes 
himself  known  to  his  faithful,  and  administers  to  them  the  re- 
mission of  then*  sins." 

In  another  Confession  of  Faith,  made  at  Basil,  in  1532, "  The 
Christian  Church  is  likewise  defined  the  society  of  the  Saints, 
whereof  all  those  who  confess  Jesus  Christ  are  the  citizens;" 
thus  the  profession  of  Chiustianity  is  essential  to  her. 

15. — The  Helvetic  Confession  of  1566,  and  the  perpetiuU  Visibility  thoroughly 

established. 

Whilst  we  are  upon  the  Helvetic  Confessions,  that  of  1666, 
which  is  the  great  and  solemn  one,  defines  also  the  Church, 
"  which  has  been  always,  which  is,  and  which  shall  ever  be,  the 
assembly  of  the  faithful,  and  of  the  saints  who  know  God,  and 
serve  him  by  the  Word  and  the  Holy  Ghost."*  Here,  then,  is 
not  only  the  interior  band,  namely,  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  the  ex- 
terior also,  which  is  the  word  and  preaching  ;  and  therefore  they 
say  afterwards,  "  that  lawful  and  true  preaching  is  her  chief 
mark,  to  which  must  be  added  the  sacraments  as  God  has  in- 
stituted them. "I  Whence  they  conclude  "that  the  Churches, 
which  are  deprived  of  these  marks,  although  they  boast  the  suc- 
cession of  their  bishops,  their  unity,  and  their  antiquity,  do  not 
belong  to  the  true  Church  of  Jesus  Christ ;  nor  can  salvation 
any  more  be  had  out  of  the  Church  than  out  of  the  ark  ;  if  you 
will  have  life,  you  must  not  separate  yourself  from  the  true 
Church  of  Jesus  Chi'ist." 

I  desire  these  words  may  be  observed,  which  will  be  of  great 
consequence  when  we  shall  come  to  the  last  answers  of  the 
ministers  ;  in  the  mean  time,  let  us  but  remark,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  teach  more  clearly  that  the  Church  is  always  visible,  and 
that  she  is  necessarily  compounded  of  pastors  and  people,  than 
is  here  done  by  this  Helvetic  Confession. 

16. — They  begin  to  vary. — The  invisible  Church  begins  to  appear. 

But  as  they  were  obliged,  according  to  these  ideas,  always  to 
find  a  ministry  and  a  Church  wherein  the  ti'uth  of  Christianity 
was  preserved  :  the  difficulty  was  no  small  one,  because,  say 
what  they  would,  they  were  very  sensible  that  there  was  no 
Church,  little  or  great,  composed  of  pastors  and  people,  wherein 
they  could  show  that  faith,  which  they  would  mal^e  pass  for  the 
only  true  Christian  faith.  They  are  then  forced  to  subjoin, 
"  that  God  has  had  his  friends  out  of  the  people  of  Israel ;  that, 
during  the  captivity  of  Babylon,  the  people  were  deprived  sixty 
years  of  the  sacrifice ;  that,  through  a  just  judgment  of  God, 
the  truth  of  his  word  and  worship,  and  the  Catholic  faith,  are 
*  Syn.  Gen.  cap.  xvii.  p.  31.  t  Ibid.  Pp.  33,  34, 


250  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

sometimes  so  obscured,  that  it  seems  almost  as  if  they  were 
extinct,  and  no  Church  at  all  subsisting,  as  happened  in  the  time 
of  Eli  and  at  other  times  ;  so  that  the  Church  may  be  called  in- 
visible ;  not  that  the  men  she  is  composed  of  are  so,  but  be- 
cause she  is  often  hidden  to  our  eyes,  and  being  known  to  God 
alone,  escapes  from  the  sight  of  men."  Here  is  the  dogma  of 
an4nvisible  Church,  as  clearly  established  as  the  dogma  of  the 
visible  Church  had  been  before  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Reformation, 
struck  at  first  with  the  true  notion  of  the  Church,  defined  it  so 
as  that  her  visibility  came  into  her  very  essence  ;  but  aftenvards 
fell  into  other  notions  through  the  impossibility  of  finding  a 
Church  always  visible  of  her  belief. 
17. — Church  invisible. — Why  invented. — Confession  of  the  Minister  Jurieu. 

That  it  was  this  inevitable  perplexity  which  drove  the  Cal- 
vinian  Churches  upon  this  chimera  of  a  Church  invisible  none 
can  doubt,  after  hearing  M.  Jurieu.  "  That  which  moved," 
says  he,*  "  some  reformed  doctors  (he  should  have  said  whole 
Churches  of  the  reformation)  in  their  own  Confessions  of  Faith, 
to  cast  themselves  into  the  perplexity  they  were  entangled  in 
upon  their  denying  the  perpetual  visibility  of  the  Church,  was 
because  they  believed,  by  owning  the  Church  always  visible, 
they  should  find  it  difficult  to  answer  the  question  which  the 
Church  of  Rome  so  often  asks  us  : — Where  was  our  Church  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  ?  If  the  Church  be  always  visible, 
your  Calvinist  and  Lutheran  Church  is  not  the  true  Church, 
for  that  was  not  visible."  This  is  fairly  owning  the  cause  of 
that  perplexity  which  disturbed  his  Churches  :  he  that  pretends 
to  have  refined  beyond  them,  will  not  extricate  himself  better, 
as  wo  shall  see  ;  but  let  us  continue  to  observe  the  confusion 
of  the  Churches  themselves. 

18. — Belgic  Confession,  and  sequel  of  the  perplexity. 

The  Belgic  Confession  manifestly  copies  after  the  Helvetic, 
since  it  says,|  "  that  the  Catholic  or  Universal  Church  is  the 
assembly  of  all  the  faithful ;  that  she  has  been,  is,  and  will  be 
eternally,  by  reason  that  Jesus  Christ,  her  eternal  King,  cannot 
be  without  subjects  ;  although  for  some  time  she  seem  little, 
and  OS  it  ivere  extinct  to  the  eyes  of  men ;  as  in  the  time  of 
Achab  ajid  of  those  seven  thousand  who  had  not  bent  their 
knees  to  Baal." 

Nevertheless,  they  afterwards  subjoin,^  "  that  the  Church  is 
the  assembly  of  the  elect,  out  of  which  none  can  be  saved  ;  that 
it  is  not  lawful  to  withdraw  from  her,  or  abide  apart ;  but  all 
must  unite  themselves  to  the  Church,  and  submit  to  her  disci- 
pline ;§  that  one  may  see  and  know  her,  by  pure  preaching, 

*  Syst.  p.  226.     t  Syn.  Gen.  Art.  27.  p.  140.     X  lb.  Art.  28.     §  lb.  Art.  29. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  251 

right  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  a  good  discipline  ; 
and  it  is  thereby,  say  they,  that  we  may  rightly  distinguish  this 
true  Church,  from  which  it  is  not  allowable  to  depart." 

It  seems,  then,  on  one  side,  as  if  they  would  say,  one  may 
easily  and  always  know  her,  since  she  has  such  manifest  tokens, 
and  that  it  is  never  lawful  to  depart  from  her.  An-d  on  the  other 
side,  if  we  press  them  to  show  us  a  Church  of  their  belief,  though 
never  so  minute,  always  visible,  they  provide  a  subterfuge  for 
themselves  by  flying  to  this  Church  which  does  not  appear,  al- 
though they  dare  not  speak  out  boldly,  nor  say  absolutely  that 
she  is  extinct,  but  only  that  she  seems  as  it  were  extinct. 
19. —  Church  of  England. 

The  Church  of  England  speaks  ambiguously.  "The  visible 
Church,"  says  she,"*  "  is  a  congregation  of  faithful  men,  in  which 
the  pure  word  of  God  is  preached,  and  the  sacraments  are  duly 
ministered,  a.ccording  to  Christ's  ordinance  ;"  that  is,  such  is 
she  when  v'isible,  but  this  is  not  saying  that  she  is  always  vi>^ible. 
What  follows  is  not  more  clear  :  "  As  the  Churches  of  Jerusa- 
lem, Alexandria,  and  Antioch,  have  erred,  so  also  the  Church 
of  Rome  hath  erred  in  matters  of  faith  :"  the  question  is,  (they 
thus  attainting  these  great,  and  as  it  were,  mother  churches  of 
all  the  rest,)  whether  the  infection  might  have  spread  so  univer- 
sally, as  that  the  profession  of  truth  was  extinguished  over  all 
the  earth  :  but  they  chose  rather  to  speak  nothing  of  it,  than  to 
incur  this  terrible  dilemma,  which  would  oblige  them,  on  one 
side,  either  to  own  there  was  no  Church  left  on  earth  in  vhich 
truth  was  confessed  :  or,  allowing  the  impossibility  of  this,  would 
oblige  them,  on  the  other  side,  to  seek  what  they  knew  could 
not  be  found,  to  wit,  a  Church  always  subsisting  and  believing 
as  they  did. 

20. — Confession  of  Scotland,  and  manifest  contradiction. 

In  the  Confession  of  Scotland,  the  Catholic  Church  is  defined 
the  Society  of  all  the  Elect :  they  say,|  "  She  is  invisible,  and 
known  to  God  only,  who  alone  knows  his  elect ;"  and  add, 
"  that  the  true  Church  hath  for  its  mark,  preaching  and  the 
sacraments:"  and  wherever  these  marks  be,  though  there  should 
be  but  two  or  three  men,  there  is  the  Church  of  Jesus  (  hrist, 
in  the  midst  of  which  he  is,  according  to  his  promise  :  "  \v'hich 
is  understood,"  say  they,  "  not  of  the  universal  Church  just 
spoken  of,  but  of  the  particular  Church  of  Ephesus,  of  Corinth, 
and  so  forth,  wherein  the  ministry  had  been  planted  by  St.  Paul." 
Prodigious !  to  make  Jesus  Christ  say  the  ministry  may  be 
where  two  or  three  men  can  be  found.  But  they  were  forced 
into  these  straits ;  for  to  find  one  only  Church  of  their  belief, 

*  Syn,  Geu.  Art.  19,  p.  103.     f  Ibid.  Art.  16,  de  Eccl.  p.  1  IS,  Art.  18,  p.  119. 


252  TKE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

wherein  was  a  regulated  ministry,  as  at  Ephesus  or  Corinth, 
always  subsisti-ng,  was  what  they  despaired  of. 

21. — Catechism  of  the  pretended  Reformed  of  France. 

I  have  reserved  the  Confession  of  the  pretended  Reformed  of 
France  for  the  last,  not  only  on  account  of  the  particular  con- 
cern I  ought  to  have  for  my  own  country,  but  also  because  in 
France  especially  the  Protestants  have  foi*  this  long  time  sought 
most  diligently  for  the  solution  of  this  difficulty. 

Let  us  begin  by  the  Catechism,*  wherein  on  the  fifteenth 
Sunday,  upon  this  Article  of  the  Creed,  "  I  believe  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church,"  they  teach,  that  this  name  is  given  her,  "  to 
signify  that  as  there  is  but  one  head  of  the  faithful,  so  all  are  to 
be  united  in  one  bodj ;  so  that  there  are  not  many  Churches, 
but  one  only,  which  is  diffiased  all  the  world  over."  How  the 
Lutheran  or  Calvinian  Church  was  diffused  all  over  the  world, 
when  scarcely  known  in  some  corner  of  it ;  and,  how  Churches 
of  this  belief  are  to  be  found,  in  all  times  and  in  all  the  world, 
is  what  constitutes  the  difficulty.  Th^y  saw,  and  they  obviate 
it  in  the  following  Sunday,|  where,  after  having  asked,  whether 
this  Church  maybe  otherwise  known  than  by  believing  her,  they 
answer  thus  :  "  There  is  indeed  a  visible  Church  of  God  con- 
formable to  the  signs  he  hath  given  us  to  know  her  by ;  but  in 
this  place,  (the  Creed,)  properly  speaking,  is  meant  the  society 
of  those  whom  God  hath  elected  for  salvation,  which  cannot  be 
discovered  fully  by  the  eye." 

22. — Sequel  inwhich  the  difficulty  appears. — The  Church  in  the  Creed  at  length 

acknoivlexlged  visible. 

They  seem  to  say  two  things  :  the  first,  that  no  mention  is 
made  of  the  Church  in  the  symbol  of  the  Apostles  ;  the  second, 
that  for  want  of  such  a  Church  which  they  might  show  visibly 
of  their  belief,  it  is  sufficient  to  have  recourse  to  that  invisible 
Church  which  cannot  be  seen  fully  by  the  eye.  But  what  fol- 
lows puts  an  obstacle  to  the  tw  o  points  of  this  doctrine,  it  being 
there  taught,  "  that  no  man  obtains  pardon  of  his  sins,  unless  he 
be  first  incorporated  with  God's  people,  and  persevere  in  unity 
and  communion  with  the  body  of  Christ,  and  so  be  a  member 
of  the  Church  :"  whence  they  conclude,  that  "  out  of  the  Church 
there  is  nothing  but  death  and  damnation ;  and  that  all  those 
who  separate  themselves  from  the  company  of  the  faithful  to 
make  a  sect  apart,  ought  not,  whilst  divided,  to  hope  salvation." 
To  make  a  sect  apart,  is,  unquestionably,  to  break  the  exterior 
bonds  of  the  unity  of  the  Chuich.  They  suppose,  therefore, 
that  the  Church,  wherewith  it  is  necessary  to  be  in  communion 
in  order  to  obtain  pardon  of  our  sins,  has  a  twofold  union,  the 
internal  and  external ;  and  that  both  of  them  are  necessarv, 
*  Catech.  Dim.  xv.  f  Dim.  xvi. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  253 

first,  to  salvation,  and  secondly,  to  the  understanding  the  Article 
of  the  Creed  touching  the  Catholic  Church  :  so  that  this  Church, 
confessed  in  the  Creed,  is  visible  and  distinguishable  in  her  ex- 
terior ;  for  which  reason  also  they  durst  not  venture  to  say  that 
we  could  not  see  her,  but,  could  not  see  her  fully,  to  wit,  as  to 
that  which  is  internal ;  a  thing  no  man  disputes. 
23. — Calvin'' s  Sentiment. 

All  these  notions  in  the  Catechism  came  from  Calvin  who 
composed  it:  for,  explaining  the  Article,  "  I  believe  the  Catholic 
Church,"*  he  distinguishes  the  Church  visible  from  the  invisible 
known  to  God  alone,  which  is  the  society  of  all  the  elect,  and 
it  seems  as  if  he  would  say  it  is  this  the  Creed  speaks  of:  al- 
though, says  he,"("  "  this  Article  regards,  in  some  measure,  the 
external  Church,"  as  if  they  were  two  Churches,  and  it  were  not, 
on  the  contrary,  most  evident,  that  the  same  Church,  which  is 
invisible  in  her  internal  gifts,  doth  manifest  herself  by  the  sacra- 
ments and  profession  of  her  faith.  But  so  it  is,  that  the  Reforma- 
tion is  always  in  a  panic  when  the  visibility  of  the  Church  is  to 
be  acknowledged. 

24. — Confes^on  of  Faith  of  the  French  Calvinists. 

They  act  more  naturally  in  their  Confession  of  Faith,  and 
elsewhere  it  hath  been  proved  unanswerably,  that  they  there 
own  no  other  Church  but  that  which  is  visible.  J  The  fact  stands 
incontestable,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter.  Nor  was  there,  indeed, 
any  thing  that  could  less  bear  a  dispute ;  for,  from  the  twenty- 
fifth  Article,  where  this  matter  begins,  to  the  thirty-second 
Article,  where  it  ends,  they  all  along  evidently  suppose  the 
Church  visible  ;  and  in  the  twenty-fifth  Article,  they  lay  it  down 
as  a  fundamental  point,  that  "  the  Church  cannot  subsist,  unless 
there  be  pastors  in  her  that  have  the  charge  of  teaching."  It  is, 
therefore,  a  thing  absolutely  necessary ;  and  those  who  oppose 
this  doctrine  are  detested,  as  fantastical.  Whence  they  conclude, 
in  the  twenty-sixth  Article,  "  that  no  man  ought  to  withdraw 
apart,  nor  rest  on  self-sufficiency ;"  so  that  it  is  necessary' to  be 
united  externally  with  some  Church :  a  truth  inculcated  in  eveiy 
place,  without  the  appearance  of  so  much  as  one  word  of  a 
Church  invisible. 

It  ought,  however,  to  be  observed,  that  in  the  twenty-sixth 
Article,  where  it  is  said,  "  No  man  ought  to  withdraw  apart  nor 
rest  on  self-sufficiency,  but  should  join  himself  to  some  Church," 
they  add,  "  and  this  in  whatever  place  God  shall  have  established 
a  true  form  of  a  Church  ;"  whereby  it  is  left  undecided  whether 
or  no  they  mean  that  such  a  form  always  does  subsist. 

25. — Sequel,  wherein  the  perpetual  Visibility  is  always  manifestly  supposed. 

In  the  twenty-seventh  Article  caution  is  given  to  distinguish 
*  lustit.  1.  iv.  c.  1.  n.  2.         f  N.  3.        %  Conf.  avec.  M.  CL  p.  9,  et  seq. 
VOL.  II.  22 


254  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

carefully  which  is  the  true  Church ;  words  that  plainly  show 
they  suppose  her  visible  :  and  after  having  decided  that  she  is 
"  the  congregation  of  truly  faithful  men,"  they  add,  "  amongst 
the  faithful  there  be  hypocrites  and  reprobate,  whose  wicked- 
ness cannot  deface  the  title  of  a  Church,"  wherein  the  Church's 
visibility  is  again  clearly  supposed. 

26. — The  Church  of  Rome  excluded  from  the  title  of  atrue  Church  by  the  twerdy- 
eighth  Article  of  the  French  Confession. 

By  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  twenty-eighth  Article,  the 
Church  of  Rome  stands  excluded  from  the  title  of  a  true  Church, 
forasmuch  as,  after  laying  this  foundation,  "that,  where  the 
word  of  God  is  not  preached,  and  no  profession  is  made  of 
bringing  one's  self  under  subjection  to  it,  and  where  there  is  no 
use  of  sacraments,  properly  speaking,  we  cannot  judge  that 
there  is  any  Church :"  they  declare  they  ^'  condemn  the  assem- 
blies of  the  Papacy,  considering  that  the  pure  truth  of  God  is 
banished  thence,  and  the  sacraments  are  there  corrupted,  adul- 
terated, falsified,  or  wholly  annihilated ;  and  all  superstitions 
and  idolatries  are  in  vogue  amongst  them :"  whence  they  draw 
this  consequence, — "  We  hold  that  all  those  who  join  in  such 
deeds,  and  communicate  in  them,  do  separate  and  cut  them- 
selves ofi^from  the  body  of  Christ  Jesus." 

It  is  impossible  to  decide  more  clearly  that  there Js  no  salva- 
tion in  the  Church  of  Rome.  And  what  is  subjoined  by  them, 
that  there  are  still  some  "  footsteps  of  a  Church  amongst  us,"  so 
far  from  mitigating  the  preceding  expressions,  even  strengthens 
them  ;  inasmuch  as  this  term  implies  rather  some  remains  and 
traces  of  a  Church  that  had  formerly  passed  that  way,  than  a 
token  of  her  being  there.  Thus  was  it  understood  by  Calvin, 
when  he  asserted*  "  that  the  essential  doctrine  of  Christianity 
was  entirely  forgotten  by  us."  But  the  difficulty  of  discovering 
a  society  in  which  God  could  be  served,  before  the  Reformation, 
has  made  them  elude  this  article,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter. 

27. — The  thirty-first  Article,  in  tvhich  the  interruption  of  the  Ministry ^  and  the 
cesssaiion  of  the  visible  Church,  is  acknoioledged.   ■ 

The  same  reason  obliged  them  also  to  elude  the  thirty-first, 
which  regards  the  vocation  of  Ministers.  However  trite  may 
have  been  this  subject,  it  must  nevertheless,  of  necessity,  be 
resumed,  and  so  much  the  more,  as  it  has  given  occasion  to 
notorious  variations  even  in  our  days.  It  begins  by  these  words : 
— "  We  believe,  (it  is  an  article  of  faith,  consequently  revealed 
by  God,  and  revealed  clearly  in  his  Scripture  according  to  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation,)  we  believe,  then,  that  no  man 
may  intiude  himself,  of  his  own  proper  authority,  into  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church;"  allowed,  the  thing  is  certain:  "but 

*  Instit.  iv.  c.  xi.  n.  2. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  255 

that  this  ought  to  be  done  by  election  ;"  this  part  of  the  Article 
is  not  less  certain  than  the  other.  You  must  be  chosen,  deputed, 
authorized,  by  somebody  ;  otherwise  you  are  an  intruder,  "  and 
by  your  own  particular  authority,"  the  thing  just  now  prohibited. 
But  here  is  what  annoys  the  Reformation ;  they  knew  not  who 
had  chosen,  deputed,  authorized  the  Reformers,  and  it  was  ne 
cessary  to  find  out  here  some  cloak  for  so  visible  a  defect. 
Wherefore,  after  having  said  you  ought  to  be  elected  and  dep- 
uted after  some  form  or  other,  without  specifying  any,  they  add, 
"so  far  forth  as  is  possible,  and  God  permits  it :"  whereby  an 
exception  is  manifestly  prepared  in  behalf  of  the  Reformers. 
And,  accordingly,  they  immediately  subjoin,  "  which  exception 
we  add  expressly,  because  it  hath  been  necessary  sometimes, 
nay,  in  our  days,  when  the  state  of  the  Church  was  interrupted, 
that  God  should  raise  men  in  an  extraordinary  manner  to  set  up 
the  Church  anew  which  was  fallen  into  ruin  and  desolation." 
They  could  not  denote  in  more  clear  and  more  general  terms 
the  interruption  of  the  ordinary  ministry  estabhshed  by  God, 
nor  carry  it  further  than  to  be  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  an 
extraordinary  mission  which  God  himself  despatches,  and  ac- 
cordingly furnishes  with  the  particular  proofs  of  his  immediate 
will.  For  they  acknowledge  frankly  in  the  present  case,  that 
they  can  neither  produce  pastors  that  did  consecrate,  nor  people 
that  could  elect ;  which  implied  necessarily  the  entire  extinction 
of  the  Church  in  her  visibility ;  and  remarkable  it  was  that,  from 
the  interruption  of  the  visibility  and  ministry,  they  came  to  ov/n 
in  plain  terms  that  the  Church  was  fallen  into  ruin,  without  dis- 
tinguishing the  visible  from  the  invisible,  because  they  had  got 
into  a  train  of  simple  notions  by  wliich  the  Scripture  naturally 
leads  us  to  own  no  Church  but  such  as  is  visible. 

28. — Perplexity  in  the  Synods  of  Gap  and  Rochelle,  on  account  of  the  invisible 
Church  having  been  forgotten  in  the  Confession. 

This  difficulty  was  at  length  perceived  by  the  Reformation  ; 
and  in  1603,  five  and  forty  years  after  the  Confession  of  Faith 
had  been  published,  was  proposed  to  the  national  Synod  of  Gap 
in  these  terms  :*  "  The  provinces  are  exhorted  to  examine 
thoroughly,  in  the  provincial  synods,  in  what  terms  the  twenty- 
fifth  Article  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  ought  to  be  couched, 
so  much  the  more  as  our  belief,  regarding  the  Church,  whereof 
mention  is  made  in  the  creed,  being  to  be  expressed,  there  is 
nothing  in  the  said  confession  that  can  be  understood  of  any 
other  than  the  Church  militant  and  visible."  A  general  com- 
mand is  subjoined,  "  that  all  come  prepared  on  questions  con- 
cerning the  Church." 

This  is,  therefore,  a  fact  well  avowed,  that  when  they  were 

*  Synod,  de  Gap.  ch.  de  la  Conf.  de  Foi. 


256  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

to  expound  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  an  article  so  essential 
to  Christianity  as  to  have  been  expressed  in  the  creed,  the  idea 
of  a  Church  invisible  did  not  so  much  as  enter  into  the  minds 
of  the  Reformers,  so  distant  was  it  from  good  sense,  and  so 
unnatural.  However,  they  bethink  themselves  afterwards  that 
it  is  necessary  for  their  turn,  it  being  impossible  for  them  to  find 
out  a  Church  which  had  always  visibly  persisted  in  the  faith  they 
profess,  and  a  remedy  is  therefore  sought  for  this  omission. 
What  shall  they  say  ]  That  the  Church  might  be  wholly  in- 
visible ?  This  were  introducing  into  a  Confession  of  Faith  so 
crude  a  fancy,  so  repugnant  to  good  sense,  that  it  never  entered 
into  the  heads  of  those  that  drew  it  up.  It  was  therefore  re- 
solved, at  last,  to  leave  it  as  they  found  it ;  and  four  years  after, 
in  1607,  at  the  national  Synod  of  Rochelle,*  when  all  the  prov- 
inces had  thoroughly  examined  what  was  wanting  to  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  "  they  concluded  not  to  add  to  or  diminish 
anything  from  the  twenty-fifth  and  twenty-ninth  Articles,"  the 
very  same  in  which  the  visibility  of  the  Church  was  expressed 
the  most  fully,  "  nor  to  meddle  anew  with  the  subject  of  the 
Church." 

29. — Vain  subtlety  of  the  Minister  Claude  toivards  eluding  these  Synods. 

M.  Claude,  of  all  men,  was  the  most  subtle  to  elude  the  de- 
cisions of  his  Church  when  they  incommoded  him  ;|  but,  on 
this  occasion,  he  jests  but  too  openly,  for  he  would  make  us 
believe  that  all  the  difficulty  the  Synod  of  Gap  met  with  in  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  was,  that  she  could  have  wished  that,  in- 
stead of  specifying  only  "  the  militant  and  visible  part  of  the 
universal  Church,  her  invisible  parts,  which  are  the  Church  tri- 
umphant and  that  which  is  still  to  come,  had  also  been  specified." 
Was  not  that,  indeed,  a  very  important,  a  very  difficult  question, 
to  order  the  discusssion  of  in  all  the  synods  and  over  all  the 
provinces,  towards  bringing  it  to  a  decision  in  the  next  national 
synod  ]  Did  they  so  much  as  dream  of  ever  raising  so  frivo- 
lous a  question  1  And  to  beUeve  they  troubled  their  heads  about 
it,  must  not  he  have  forgotten  the  whole  state  of  controversies 
ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  pretended  Reformation?  But 
M.  Claude  was  not  for  acknowledging  that  the  synod's  per- 
plexity proceede  from  her  not  finding,  in  their  Confession  of 
Faith,  the  invisible  Church,  whibt  his  brother,  M.  Jurieu,  more 
sincere  in  that  particular,  agrees  that  they  thought  it  was  ne- 
cessary in  the  party,  in  order  to  answer  the  query,  Where  was 
the  Church] 

30. — Remarkable  decision,  which  they  stick  not  to,  of  the  Synod  of  Gap,  con- 
cerning  extraordinary  Vocation. 

The  same  Synod  of  Gap  passed  an  important  decision  on  the 
*  Syn.  de  la  Roch.  1607.  j  I^ep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  p.  220. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  257 

thirty- first  article  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  which  spoke  of 
the  extraordinary  vocation  of  pastors  :  for  the  question  being 
proposed,  "  Whether  or  not  it  were  expedient,  when  they  should 
treat  on  the  vocation  of  pastors  who  reformed  the  Church,  to 
ground  the  authority  they  had  to  reform  and  teach,  on  the  voca- 
tion they  had  received  from  the  Church  of  Rome  ;"  the  Synod 
judged  "  they  ought  to  refer  it,  according  to  the  article,  to  the 
extraordinary  vocation  only  whereby  God  interiorly  stirred  them 
up  to  this  ministry,  and  not  to  the  small  remains  amongst  them 
of  that  corrupted  ordinary  vocation."  Such  was  the  decision 
of  the  Synod  of  Gap  :  but,  as  before  frequently  observed,  the 
Reformation  never  hits  right  at  first.  Whereas,  she  enjoins  here 
to  have  recourse  to  an  extraordinary  vocation  only,  the  Synod  of 
Rochelle  says  they  must  principally  have  recourse  to  it.  But 
they  will  no  more  abide  by  the  exposition  of  the  Synod  of  Ro- 
chelle, than  by  the  determination  of  the  Synod  of  Gap ;  and 
the  whole  sense  of  the  article,  so  carefully  explained  by  two 
Synods,  shall  be  changed  by  two  ministers. 

31. — The  Ministers  elude  the  decree  concerning  extraordinary  Vocation. 

The  ministers  Claude  and  Jurieu  are  no  longer  for  an  extra- 
ordinary vocation  by  which  ministers  are  sent  immediately  from 
God;  neither  does  a  confession  of  faith,  nor  Synods,  terrify 
them  :  for  as  the  Reformed  in  the  main  neither  care  for  confes- 
sions of  faith  nor  synods,  and  answer  objections  from  them  only 
for  form-sake,  even  the  slightest  evasions  will  serve  their  turn. 
For  such,  M.  Claude  was  never  at  a  loss  ;  "  the  right  to  teach," 
says  he,  "  and  to  perform  the  pastoral  functions,  is  one  thing  : 
the  right  to  labor  towards  a  reformation,  is  another."*  As  for 
the  last,  the  vocation  was  extraordinary,  on  account  of  the  ex- 
traordinary talents  the  Reformers  were  endowed  with :  but  as 
for  the  vocation  to  the  pastoral  ministry,  there  was  nothing  ex- 
traordinary in  it ;  since  these  first  pastors  were  appointed  by 
the  people,  in  whom  the  source  of  authority  and  vocation  nat- 
urally resides.  I 

32. — Extraordinary  Vocation,  established  in  the  Confession  and  two  national 
Synods,  is  abandoned. 

They  could  not  shift  off*  the  thirty-first  Article  in  a  more  gross 
manner.  For,  it  is  manifest  the  question  there  regarded  in  no 
manner  of  way  either  the  extraordinary  labor  towards  a  refor- 
mation, or  the  rare  talents  wherewith  the  Reformers  were  en- 
dowed ;  but  merely  the  vocation  for  governing  the  Church,  into 
which  it  was  not  lawful  "  for  any  one  to  intrude  himself  of  his 
own  proper  authority."    Now  it  was  in  this  regard  that  they  had 

*  Def.  de  la  Rep.  p.  i.  ch.  iv.  et  p.  iv.  ch.  iv.  Rep.  a  M.  de  Cond.  pp.  313, 333. 

t  Ibid.  pp.  307,313. 
VOL.  II.  22  * 


258  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

recourse  to  an  extraordinary  vocation  ;  consequently,  it  was  in 
regard  of  the  pastoral  functions. 

The  Synod  explains  itself  no  less  clearly ;  for  without  the 
least  thought  of  distuiguishing  between  the  power  of  reforming 
and  that  of  teaching,  which  in  reality  are  so  linked  together,  that 
the  same  power  which  authorizes  to  teach,  authorizes  likewise 
to  reform  abuses, — the  question  was,  whether  the  power,  as  well 
of  reforming  as  of  teaching,  ought  to  be  founded  on  vocation 
derived  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  or  on  an  extraordinary  com- 
mission issuing  immediately  from  God ;  and  the  Synod  con- 
cludes for  the  latter. 

But  no  longer  were  there  any  means  left  of  maintaining  it, 
they  not  having  any  one  mark  thereof:  nay,  two  Synods  could 
find  no  other  warrant  to  authorize  these  extraordinary  commis- 
sioned pastors,  except  what  they  said  for  themselves,  that  they 
had  an  "interior  impulse  to  their  ministry."  The  chiefs  of  the 
Anabaptists  and  Unitarians  say  the  same,  nor  is  there  a  more 
sure  method  of  introducing  into  the  pastoral  charge  all  manner 
of  fanatics. 
33. — How  important  is  the  present  state  of  the  controversy  about  the  Church. 

Here  was  a  fine  field  opened  to  Catholics.  Nor  have  they 
failed  so  to  press  the  arguments  regarding  the  Church  and  min- 
istry, that  intestine  divisions  began  to  disorder  the  camp  of  the 
enemy ;  and  the  minister  Claude,  after  subtilizing  to  a  higher 
pitch  than  any  one  had  ever  done  before  him,  was  not  able  to 
content  the  minister  Jurieu.  What  they  both  have  said  on  this 
subject,  the  steps  they  have  taken  towards  the  truth,  the  absurd- 
ities they  fell  into  for  not  having  sufficiently  pursued  their  prin- 
ciple, have  placed  the  question  concerning  the  Church  in  such  a 
state  as  not  to  be  dissembled  without  omitting  one  of  the  most 
material  occurrences  of  this  history. 

34. — They  no  longer  contest  with  us  the  visibility  of  the  Church. 

These  two  ministers  suppose  the  Church  visible,  and  always 
visible,  nor  is  it  in  this  point  they  are  divided.  In  order  to  put 
it  beyond  all  doubt  that  M.  Claude  persisted  in  this  sentiment 
to  the  very  last,  I  will  produce  his  last  work  on  this  subject. 
He  there  declares,*  that  the  question  between  Catholics  and 
Protestants  is  not  whether  the  Church  be  visible  ;  that  it  is  not 
denied  in  his  religion  that  the  true  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Church  which  his  promises  relate  to,  is  so  ;  he  very  clearly 
decides  that  the  text  of  St.  I*aul,  in  which  the  Church  is  repre- 
sented as  without  spot  or  wrinkle,  "  regards  not  only  the  Church 
in  heaven,  but  also  the  visible  Church  that  is  on  earth :  inso- 
much, that  the  visible  Church  is  the  body  of  Christ  Jesus,  or, 
*  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  p.  73.  lb.  pp.  82,  83,  et  seq. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  259 

what  comes  to  the  same  thing,  the  body  of  Christ  Jesus,  which 
alone  is  the  true  Church,  is  visible :  that  this  is  the  sentiment 
of  Calvin  and  Mestresat,  and  that  the  Church  of  God  is  not  to 
be  sought  out  of  the  visible  state  of  the  ministry  and  world." 

35. — The  promises  of  Jesus  Christ  in  behalf  of  the  Visibility  are  alloxocd. 

This  is  most  clearly  owning  that  she  cannot  subsist  without 
her  visibility  and  the  perpetuity  of  her  ministry :  accordingly 
this  author  has  acknowledged  it  in  many  places,  and  particularly 
in  expounding  these  words  :  the  "  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  her ;"  where  he  speaks  thus  :*  "  if  in  these  words  he 
understood  a  perpetual  subsistence  of  the  ministry  in  a  state  suf- 
ficient for  the  salvation  of  God's  elect,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts 
of  hell,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  disorders  and  confusions  of  the 
ministers  themselves  ;  it  is  no  more  than  what  I  own  has  been 
promised  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  therein  it  is  that  we  have  a  sensi- 
ble and  palpable  token  of  his  promise." 

The  perpetuity,  therefore,  of  the  ministry  is  not  a  thing  which 
happens  accidentally  to  the  Church,  or  is  only  suitable  to  her 
for  a  time  ;  it  is  a  thing  which  is  promised  her  by  Jesus  Christ 
himself;  and  it  is  equally  certain,  that  the  Church  will  never 
be  without  a  visible  ministry,  as  it  is  certain  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  eternal  truth. 

36. — Another  •promise  equally  confessed. 

This  Minister  proceeds  still  further,^  and  expounding  this 
promise  of  Jesus  Christ,  "  Go  ye,  baptize,  teach,  and  lo,  I  am 
with  you  always  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,"  he  approves 
this  comment  thereon  :  "  with  you  teaching,  with  you  baptiz- 
ing," and  concludes  it  with  these  words  :  "  I  acknowledge  that 
Jesus  Christ  promises  the  Church  to  be  with  her,  and  to  teach 
with  her,  without  mferriipfion^  to  the  end  of  the  world  :"  an 
acknowledgm.ent  from  whence  I  shall,  in  due  time,  conclude  the 
infallibility  of  the  Church's  doctrine,  with  whom  Jesus  Christ  is 
always  teaching :  but  I  only  employ  it  here  to  establish  by  his 
scriptures  and  his  promises,  with  the  consent  of  this  Minister, 
the  visible  perpetuity  of  the  Church  ministry. 

37. — The  Visibility  enters  into  the  definition  ichich  the  Minister  Claude  has 
given  of  the  Church. 

Accordingly,  also,  he  proceeds  thus  to  define  the  Church : 
"  the  Church  is,"  says  he,  "the  true  faithful  who  make  profession 
of  the  truth,  of  Christian  piety,  of  a  true  sanctity  under  a  minis- 
try which  furnishes  her  with  the  food  necessary  for  a  spiritual 
life,  without  subtracting  from  her  any  part  thereof.";|'  Where 
the  profession  of  the  truth  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  visible  min- 

*  Rep.  au.  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  p.  105.  Matt.  xvi.  18,  f  Conf.  avec.  M. 
CI.  p.  36.  Rep.  au.  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  pp.  106,  107.  I  Rep.  au  Disc. 

deM.  deCond.  p.  119, 


260  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

istry  are  seen  manifestly  to  enter  the  definition  of  the  Church : 
whence  it  clearly  follows,  that  as  much  as  he  is  assured  that 
she  will  always  exist,  so  much  is  he  assured  that  she  always 
will  be  visible,  since  visibility  appertains  to  her  essence,  and 
comes  into  her  very  definition. 
38. — In  lohat  manner  the  Society  of  the  faithful  is  visible,  in  thi^s  Minister'' s 

opinion. 

If  it  be  asked  this  minister,  how  he  understands  the  Church 
to  be  visible,  since  he  will  have  her  be  the  assembly  of  the  true 
faithful  known  to  God  alone,  and  that  the  profession  of  the  truth, 
which  might  make  her  known,  is  common  to  her  with  wicked 
men  and  hypocrites,  as  well  as  the  visible  and  exterior  ministry  ; 
he  answers,*  that  it  is  sufficient  to  render  the  assembly  of  the 
faithful  visible,  that  we  may  point  at  the  place  where  she  abides, 
to  wit,  the  body  wherein  she  is  nourished,  and  the  visible  min- 
istry under  which  she  is  necessarily  contained  :  by  which  means 
we  may  even  say,  "  there  she  is,"  as  viewing  the  field  in  which 
grow  good  corn  and  tares,  we  say,  "  there  is  the  good  corn  ;" 
and  as,  beholding  the  nets  wherein  are  good  and  bad  fish, 
"  there  are  the  good  fish." 

39. — Before  the  Refonncdion,  the  Elect  of  God  saved  in  the  Communion,  and 
under  the  Ministrxj  of  Rome. 

But  what  was  that  public  and  visible  ministry  under  which 
were  contained,  before  the  Reformation,  the  true  faithful  whom 
he  will  have  alone  to  be  the  true  Church  ?  this  was  the  grand 
question.  No  ministry  was  to  be  found  throughout  the  whole 
universe  that  had  perpetually  continued,  except  that  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  or  of  others,  whose  doctrine  was  equally  dis- 
advantageous to  Protestants.  Wherefore  he  was  obliged  at  last 
to  own,  that  "  this  body  in  which  the  true  faithful  were  nour- 
ished, and  this  ministry  whereby  they  received  sufficient  food 
without  subtraction  of  any  part,  was  the  body  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  the  ministry  of  her  prelates. "j" 

40. — This  Minister  has  not  recourse  to  the  .Mlbigenses,  ^c. 
This  Minister  is  here  to  be  praised  for  his  penetration,  ex- 
ceeding that  of  many  others,  and  for  not  having  confined  the 
Church  to  societies  separate  from  Rome,  as  were  the  Vaudois 
and  Albigenses,  the  Wickliffites  and  the  Hussites  :  for  though 
he  considers  them  as  the  most  "  illustrious  part  of  the  Church, 
because  they  were  the  most  pure,  the  most  knowing,  and  the 
most  generous  ;"  J  he  well  saw  it  was  ridiculous  there  to  place 
the  whole  defence  of  his  cause;  and  in  his  last  work,  without 
minding  these  obscure  sects,  whose  insufficiency  is  now  made 

*  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  pp.  79,  96,  115,  121,  146,243.  f  Ibid.  pp. 
130,  &c.  145,  &c.  360,  &c.  369,  &c.  373,  378.  J  Def.  de  la  Rep.  p.  iii.  cli. 
V.  p.  289.  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  261 

visible,  he  no  where  places  the  true  Church  and  true  faithful 
but  in  the  Latin  ministry. 

41. — Inevitable  perplexity  and  contradiction. 

But  here  lies  the  dilemma,  which  it  is  impossible  to  evade  ; 
for  the  Catholics  return  to  their  old  query  :  if  the  true  Church 
be  always  visible  ;  if  the  marks  to  know  her  by,  according  to  all 
your  catechisms  and  all  your  confessions  of  faith,  be  the  pure 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  right  administration  of  the 
Sacraments,  either  the  Church  of  Rome  had  these  two  marks, 
and  you  came  in  vain  to  reform  her,  or  she  had  them  not ;  and 
you  can  no  longer  say,  according  to  your  principles,  that  she  is 
the  body  in  which  is  contained  the  true  Church.  For,  in  con- 
tradiction to  this,  Calvin  has  said,*  "  that  the  doctrine  essential 
to  Christianity  was  there  buried,  and  she  was  nothing  but  a 
school  of  idolatry  and  impiety."  His  sentiments  passed  into 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  wherein  we  have  seen,  j"  "  that  the  pure 
truth  of  God  was  banished  from  this  Church  ;  that  the  sacra- 
ments were  there  corrupted,  falsified,  and  adulterated  ;  that  all 
superstition  and  idolatry  were  there  in  vogue."  Whence  he 
concluded,  "  that  the  Church  was  fallen  into  desolation  and 
ruin,  the  state  of  the  ministry  interrupted,  and  her  succession 
so  annihilated,  that  there  was  no  means  of  reviving  it  but  by  an 
extraordinary  mission."  And,  in  reality,  if  imputed  justice  was 
the  foundation  of  Christianity ;  if  the  merit  of  works,  and  so 
many  other  received  doctrines,  were  mortally  ruinous  to  piety  : 
if  both  kinds  were  essential  to  the  Eucharist,  where  was  the 
truth  and  sacraments  \  Calvin  and  the  confession  were  in  the 
right  to  say,  according  to  these  principles,  that  no  Church  at  all 
was  left  amongst  us. 

42. — The  ansioers  iohereby  they  fall  into  a  greater  perplexity.X 

On  the  other  side,  neither  can  it  be  said  that  the  Church  has 
ceased,  nor  ceased  to  be  visible :  the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ 
are  too  perspicuous,  and  reconciled  they  must  be,  some  way  or 
other  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformation.  Hence  commenced 
the  distinctions  of  additions  and  subtractions :  if  by  subtraction 
you  take  away  some  fundamental  truths,  no  longer  stands  the 
ministry :  if  you  lay  evil  dogmas  on  these  foundations ;  nay, 
though  they  should  destroy  this  foundation  by  consequence,  the 
ministry  subsists,  impure  indeed,  yet  sufficient ;  and  by  the  dis- 
cernment which  the  faithful  make  of  the  foundation,  which  is 
Jesus  Christ,  from  that  which  is  superadded,  they  shall  find  all 
necessary  nourishment  in  the  ministry.  Here  then  ends  that 
purity  of  doctrine,  and  of  sacraments  rightly  administered,  which 
had  been  set  as  marks  of  the  true  Church.     Without  having  so 

*  Inst.  I.  iv.  c.  ii.  n.  2.  S.  n.  26.  t  Ibid. 

X  Rep.  de  M.  CI.  au  Disc  de  M.  de  Meaux,  pp.  12S,  146, 149,  247,  561,  &c 


262  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

much  as  preaching  which  you  can  approve  of,  or  worship  which 
you  can  join  in,  or  an  entire  Eucharist,  still  you  have  all  neces- 
sary food  without  subtraction  of  any  part  thereof,  still  you  have 
the  purity  of  the  word,  and  the  sacraments  well  administered ; 
what  is  it  to  contradict  one's  self,  if  this  be  not  1 

43. — .According  to  the  Minister's  principles  all  is  entire  in  the  Church  of  Rome 
that  can  be  required  for  exterwd  Salvatioi. 

But  here  occurs  another  difficulty.  If  together  with  all  these 
points  of  doctrine,  all  these  practices,  and  all  this  worship  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  with  the  adoration  and  oblation  of  our  Sa- 
viour's body,  with  the  subtraction  of  one  kind,  and  all  the  other 
dogmas,  you  have  still  "  all  necessary  food  without  subtraction 
of  any  part,"  because  one  God  is  by  her  confessed.  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  and  one  only  Jesus  Christ  as  God  and  Saviour ; 
it  is,  therefore,  to  be  had  there  still :  still  you  have  in  her  the 
marks  of  a  true  Church,  namely  purity  of  doctrine,  and  the  right 
administration  of  the  sacraments  to  a  sufficient  degree  :  still 
then  the  true  Church  is  there,  and  still  therein  may  you  save 
your  soul. 

44. — J^o  difference  between  us  and  our  fathers. 

To  this  M.  Claude  would  not  agree  ;  the  consequences  of  so 
considerable  a  concession  made  him  tremble  for  the  Reformation. 
But  M.  Jurieu  did  not  mince  the  matter,  sensible  as  he  was  that 
the  differences  which  M.  Claude  alleged  between  us  and  our 
fathers  were  too  frivolous  to  contend  for.  And,  indeed,  no  more 
than  these  two  were  mentioned  :  the  first  is,  that  at  present  there 
is  a  body  whose  communion  we  may  embrace,  viz.  the  body  of 
the  pretended  Reformed:  the  second  is,  that  the  Church  of 
Rome  has  made  many  dogmas  articles  of  faith,  which  in  our 
father's  time,  were  undecided.*  But  nothing  can  be  more  friv- 
olous ;  and  to  convince  the  Minister  Claude,  he  needs  only  to 
remember  what  the  Minister  Claude  has  but  just  told  us  :  viz. 
that  the  Berengarians,  the  Vaudois,  the  Albigenses,  the  Wick- 
liffites,  the  Hussites,  &c.,  had  already  appeared  in  the  world  as 
"  the  most  illustrious  part  of  the  Church,  because  they  were  the 
most  pure,  the  most  knowing,  the  most  generous. "|  Again, 
he  has  but  to  remember  that,  even  in  his  judgment,  the  Church 
of  Rome  "  had  already  given  cause  sufficient  of  withdrawing 
from  her  communion  by  her  anathemas  against  Berengarius, 
against  the  Vaudois  and  Albigenses,  against  John  Wickliff  and 
John  Huss,  and  by  the  persecutions  she  had  exercised  against 
them."J  Yet  he  owns,  nevertheless,  in  all  these  places,  that, 
in  order  to  salvation,  it  was  not  necessary  to  join  with  tliese 
sects,  and  that  Rome  did  still  contain  the  elect  of  God. 

+  Def.  de  la  Ref.  p.  265.  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  pp.  370,  358,  &c. 
t  Ibid.  p.  iii.  ch.  v.  p.  289.  |  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  Cond.  p.  368. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  263 

To  say  that  the  Lutherans  and  Calvins  outshone  them  in 
brightness  and  lustre,  were  only  disputing  about  more  or  less, 
the  substance  of  the  thing  still  continuing  the  same.  The  de- 
cisions, passed  against  these  sects,  comprehended  the  principal 
part  of  what  afterwards  was  defined  against  Luther  and  Calvin; 
and  without  speaking  of  decisions,  the  constant  and  universal 
practice  of  offering  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  and  making  the 
most  essential  part  of  the  divine  worship  to  consist  in  this  obla- 
tion, was  no  new  thing,  nor  was  it  possible  to  remain  in  the 
Church  without  consenting  to  this  worship.  We  had,  therefore, 
with  this  worship,  and  with  all  its  dependencies,  all  necessary 
food,  without  subtraction  of  any  part  thereof :  therefore  we  may 
still  have  it ;  M.  Claude  could  not  have  denied  this  without  too 
gross  an  imposition,  nor  was  the  concession  of  it,  lately  made 
by  M.  Jurieu,  otherwise  than  forced. 

Add  to  this  that  M.  Claude,  who  would  make  us  believe  so 
great  a  difference  between  the  times  preceding  and  those  sub- 
sequent to  the  Reformation,  under  pretext  that  doctrines  before 
undecided,  are  since  made  articles  of  faith,  has  himself  destroyed 
this  answer,  by  saying,*  "  that  it  was  not  a  more  difficult  thing 
to  the  people  to  abstain  from  believing  and  practising  what  had 
been  made  a  dogma,  than  to  abstain  from  believing  and  prac- 
tising what  was  taught  by  the  ministry,  what  was  commanded 
by  it,  and  what  was  become  common  ;"  so  that  this  mighty  mat- 
ter of  making  new  Dogmas,  which  he  sets  up  for  such  a  scare- 
crow to  his  party,  after  all,  is  just  nothing  even  in  his  own 
judgment. 

45. — Falsehood  asserted  by  the  Minister  Claude,  that  one  might  be  i?i  the  Ro- 
mish  Communion  without  Communicating  in  her  Dogmas  and  Practice. 

To  these  inconsistencies  of  M.  Claude's  doctrine,  I  add  also 
a  palpable  falsehood  which  he  was  bound  to  maintain  by  this 
system,  viz.  that  the  true  faithful,  whom  he  owns  in  the  Church 
of  Rome  before  the  Reformation,  "  therein  subsisted  without 
communicating  in  her  doctrines,  or  her  corrupted  practices  ;"'}* 
that  is  to  say,  without  coming  to  Mass,  without  confessing  them- 
selves, without  communicating  all  their  lives,  or  at  death ;  in  a 
word,  without  ever  performing  any  one  action  of  a  Roman 
Catholic. 

He  has  been  made  to  see,  a  hundred  times,  what  a  new  pro- 
digy this  would  be  ;  for  without  speaking  of  the  great  care  that 
was  taken  through  the  entire  Church  to  make  inquiries  after  the 
Vaudois  and  Albigenses,  the  Wickliffites  and  Hussites,  it  is 
certain,  in  the  first  place,  that  even  those,  whose  doctrine  was 
unsuspected,  were  obliged,  on  a  hundred  occasions,  to  show 
tokens  of  their  belief,  and  particularly  when  the  holy  Viaticum 

*  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  p.  357.        f  Ibid.  pp.  360,  361,  &c.  369,  &c. 


264  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

was  given  them.  We  need  but  look  into  all  the  rituals  antece- 
dent to  Luther's  times,  to  be  convinced  of  the  care  then  taken 
to  make  those  to  whom  they  administered  it,  first  to  confess 
their  sins,  and  in  giving  it  to  them,  to  make  them  own  therein 
the  truth  of  the  body  of  our  Lord,  and  adore  it  with  a  profound 
respect.  A  second  incontestable  fact  results  from  thence  :  which 
is,  that  the  concealed  Yaudois  and  others,  who  wished  to  shelter 
themselves  from  the  censures  of  the  Church,  had  no  other  means 
of  compassing  it,  than  by  practising  the  same  worship  with  the 
Catholics,  even  by  receiving  communion  with  them  :*  this  has 
been  most  clearly  shown  by  all  kinds  of  proofs  that  can  be  had 
in  such  a  matter.  But  there  is  a  third  and  still  more  certain 
fact,  inasmuch  as  it  is  acknowledged  even  by  the  ministers,  viz. 
that  of  all  those  who  embraced  either  Lutheranism  or  Calvinism, 
not  so  much  as  one  has  been  found  to  say,  that  in  embracing 
such  doctrines  he  did  not  change  his  belief,  but  only  declared 
what  he  always  had  believed  in  his  heart. 

46. — A  certain  fact,  that  before  the  Reformation,  the  Doctrine  she  taught  was 
imknoxon. — Reflection  on  a  book  of  M.  Claude,  after  the  conference  of  this 
Minister. 

To  this  fact  distinctly  stated,  M.  Claude  is  satisfied  with  an- 
swering insultingly,  "  Does  M.  de  Meaux  imagine  that  the  dis- 
ciples of  Luther  and  Zuinglius  ought  to  have  made  formal  dec- 
larations of  all  they  had  thought  before  the  Reformation ;  or 
that  these  declarations  ought  to  appear  pubhcly  in  print  ?"! 

This  is  shuffling  in  too  weak  and  palpable  a  manner,  for  I  did 
not  pretend  that  all  ought  to  be  declared,  or  all  printed  ;  but  that 
they  never  would  have  omitted  to  write  that  which  decided  one 
of  the  most  material  points  of  the  whole  cause,  namely,  the 
question,  whether  or  not,  before  Luther  and  Zuinglius,  there  was 
any  one  person  of  their  faith,  or  whether  their  faith  then  was  ab- 
solutely unknown.  This  question  was  decisive,  since  none  being 
able  to  conceive  that  the  truth  had  been  wholly  extinguished,  it 
followed  manifestly  that  what  doctrine  soever  was  undiscoverable 
then  on  earth,  could  not  be  the  truth.  Examples  would  have 
cleared  all  kind  of  doubt  on  this  matter,  and  if  any  had  been,  it 
is  evident  they  would  have  made  them  public,  but  they  produced 
none  ;  it  is  therefore  because  there  were  none,  and  the  fact 
must  stand  as  incontestable. 

47. — Whether  Luther'' s  great  success  be  a  proof,  that  before  his  disputes  men 

thought  as  he  did. 

All  that  could  be  answered  to  this  was,  that  had  men  been 
satisfied  with  the  doctrines  and  worship  of  Rome,  the  Refor-. 
mation  would  not  have  met  with  so  speedy  a  success.  J     But, 

*  Sup.  1.  xi.  n.  106,  107,  1 17, 149,  &c.     f  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  p.  460. 
4  Rep.  au  Disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  p.  363.     Rep.  h  la  Let.  Past,  de  M.  de  Meaux. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  265 

not  to  repeat  here  what  may  be  found  elsewhere,  with  regard 
to  this  success,  and  even  throughout  this  whole  history,  it  is 
sufficient  to  reflect  on  that  saying  of  St.  Paul,  "  That  the  word 
of  heretics  will  spread  like  to  a  gangrene  :"*  now  the  gangrene 
does  not  suppose  a  gangrene  in  the  body  it  conupts,  nor  by 
consequence  do  Heresiarchs  find  their  error  already  settled  in 
those  minds  which  it  depraves.  It  is  true,  matters  were  dis- 
posed,"!"  as  M.  Claude  says,  by  ignorance  and  other  before- 
mentioned  causes,  for  the  most  part  little  to  the  credit  of  the 
Reformation  :  but  to  conclude  from  thence  with  this  minister, 
that  the  disciples,  whom  novelty  gained  to  Luther,  were  already 
of  his  sentiments,  is,  instead  of  a  positive  fact  whereof  proof  is 
demanded,  substituting  a  consequence  that  is  not  only  doubtful, 
but  even  evidently  false. 

48. — Absurdity  of  M.  Claude's  supposition,  with  respect  to  those  who,  in  his 
judgment,  lived  in  the  communion  of  Rome. 

Again,  though  it  were  granted  M.  Claude,  that  before  the 
Reformation  all  men  were  asleep  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  even 
so  far  as  to  let  every  man  act  as  he  pleased  ;  those  that  were 
neither  present  at  Mass  nor  Communion,  that  never  confessed 
their  sins,  never  partook  of  the  sacraments,  either  living  or  dy- 
ing, lived  and  died  quite  undisturbed :  none  ever  dreamed  of 
requiring  from  such  people  a  confession  of  their  faith,  and  repa- 
ration of  the  scandal  they  had  given  to  their  brethren :  after  all, 
w^hat  does  he  gain  by  advancing  such  prodigies  ?  His  drift 
therein  was  to  prove  that  men  might  have  saved  their  souls 
whilst  remaining  with  sincerity  in  communion  with  the  Church 
of  Rome.  In  proof  of  this,  the  first  thing  he  does,  is  to  take 
from  those  he  saves  all  the  exterior  bands  of  communion.  The 
most  essential  part  of  the  service  was  the  Mass  :  (hey  were  to 
take  no  part  in  it.  The  most  manifest  token  of  communion, 
was  communicating  at  Easter  :  they  were  to  abstain  from  it ; 
otherwise  they  must  have  adored  Jesus  Christ  as  present,  and 
partook  but  of  one  kind.  All  pulpits  resounded  with  this  wor- 
ship, with  this  communion,  and,  in  fine,  with  these  doctrines 
deemed  so  corrupt.  Great  heed  was  to  be  taken  not  to  give 
the  least  sign  of  approving  them  ;  by  this  means,  says  M. 
Claude,  salvation  might  be  had  in  communion  with  the  Church. 
He  ought  rather  to  have  concluded,  that  by  this  means  salva- 
tion would  be  had  out  of  communion  with  the  Church,  since  by 
this  means  such  would  have  violated  all  the  ties  of  communion  ; 
for,  in  short,  let  them  define  to  me  what  it  is  to  be  in  commu- 
nion with  a  Church.  Is  it  to  dwell  in  the  country  where  this 
Church  is  owned,  as  Protestants  did  amongst  us,  and  Catholics 
do  now  in  England  and  Holland  ?     Surely  it  cannot  be  that ; 

*  2  Tim.  ii.  17.  f  Ibid. 

VOL.  II.  23 


266  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

but,  perhaps,  it  is  to  appear  in  the  churches,  to  hear  the  sermons, 
and  be  present  at  the  assembUes  without  any  token  of  approba- 
tion, and  much  in  the  sa*me  disposition  with  a  curious  traveller, 
without  saying  "  amen"  to  their  prayers,  and  especially  without 
ever  communicating  !  This  is  bantering,  you  will  reply.  Why, 
then,  to  communicate  with  a  church,  is  at  least  to  frequent  her 
meetings  with  the  marks  of  consent  and  approbation  given 
thereto  by  others.  To  give  these  marks  to  a  Church  whose 
profession  of  faith  is  criminal,  is  giving  consent  to  a  crime  ; 
and  refusing  them,  is  no  longer  being  in  that  exterior  commu- 
nioa,  wherein,  nevertheless,  you  would  have  them  be. 

But  if  you  say,  the  marks  of  approbation  to  be  given  must 
only  fall  on  the  truths  which  this  Church  preaches,  and  on  the 
good  she  practises,  by  the  same  way  of  reasoning,  one  might 
be  in  communion  with  the  Socinians,  with  the  Deists,  could  they 
make  one  society,  with  the  Mahometans,  with  the  Jews,  by  re- 
ceiving the  several  truths  professed  in  each  party,  silent  as  to 
all  the  rest,  and  living  withal  in  every  respect  a  complete  So- 
cinian,  a  complete  Deist :  what  extravagance  can  compare 
with  this  ? 
49. — This  Minister  varies  in  what  he  had  said  of  the  Visibility  of  the  Church. 

This  is  the  state  wherein  M.  Claude  has  left  the  controversy 
regarding  the  Church ;  a  weak  state,  as  is  plain,  and  manifestly 
indefensible.  And,  indeed,  he  does  not  trust  to  it,  nor  will  he 
deprive  his  party  of  the  subterfuge,  though  never  so  pitiful,  of 
an  invisible  Church,  since  he  supposes  God  may  make  his 
Church  entirely  vanish  out  of  the  sight  of  men  :*  and  when  he 
says  he  may,  he  does  not  mean  that  he  can  do  this  absolutely 
speaking,  and  it  implies  no  contradiction,  for  that  is  not  the 
question ;  nor  are  metaphysical  abstractions  here  so  much  as 
thought  of;  but  he  may  do  it  in  the  hypothesis,  and  allowing 
the  present  plan  of  Christianity.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  M. 
Claude  decides,  "  That  God  may,  when  he  pleases,  reduce  the 
faithful  to  an  entire  external  dispersion,  and  preserve  them  in 
this  miserable  state,  and  that  there  is  great  difference  between 
saying,  the  Church  ceases  to  be  visible,  and  saying,  the  Church 
ceases  to  be."  After  a  hundred  times  repeating,  that  he  dis- 
putes not  with  us  the  visibility  of  the  Church  ;f  after  making 
the  visibility  of  her  ministry  enter  into  her  very  definition  ;  after 
grounding  her  perpetuity  on  these  promises  of  Jesus  Christ, 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  pre- 
vail,"— to  say  what  we  have  just  heard,  is  to  forget  his  own 
doctrine,  and  make  void  the  promises  which  are  more  durable 
than  heaven  and  earth.     But  his  case  was  this  :  after  his  ut- 

*  Def.  de  la  Rep,  pp.  47,  49,  314.  Rep.  au  disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  pp.  89, 
92,  245,  247.  f  P.  63,  et  seq. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  267 

most  straining  to  reconcile  them  with  his  Reformation,  and  to 
maintain  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  visibihty,  he  found  it  still 
requisite  to  leave  himself  a  last  refuge  in  the  invisible  Church, 
to  fly  to  in  case  of  need. 

50. — The  Minister  Jurieu  comes  in  to  the  assistance  of  the  Minister  Claude^ 
who  had  involved  himself  in  an  inextricable  labyrinth. 

In  this  posture  was  the  question,  when  M.  Jurieu  published 
his  new  system  of  the  Church.*  No  means  were  there  of  de- 
fending the  difference  which  his  brother  would  have  placed  be- 
tween us  and  our  forefathers,  nor  of  saving  one  in  damning 
the  others.  No  less  ridiculous  was  it,  in  owning  that  some 
elect  are  born  to  God,  in  the  communion  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  to  say,  that  these  elect  of  her  communion  were  such  as 
took  no  part  in  her  doctrine,  nor  in  her  worship,  nor  in  her  sac- 
raments. M.  Jurieu  was  very  sensible  that  these  pretended 
elect  could  be  nothing  but  hypocrites  or  impious  men  ;  and  at 
length,  though  with  much  ado,  he  opened  Heaven's  gate  to 
those  who  lived  in  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
But  lest  she  might  glory  in  this  advantage,  he  communicated  it, 
at  the  same  time,  to  all  other  Churches  wheresoever  Christianity 
is  spread,  how  much  soever  divided  amongst  themselves,  though 
never  so  unmercifully  excommunicating  one  another. 
51. — He  establishes  Salvation  in  all  Communions. 

He  carried  this  notion  to  such  a  height,  that  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  call  the  contrary  opinion  inhuman,  cruel,  barbarous,|  in 
a  word  an  executioner's  opinion,  that  is  pleased  with  damning 
mankind,  and  the  most  tyrannical  that  ever  was.  He  will  not 
allow  a  truly  charitable  Christian  can  have  any  other  sentiment 
than  that  which  places  the  elect  in  all  communions  where  Je- 
sus Christ  is  known  ;  and  informs  us  that,  "  if  amongst  his  own 
people  this  doctrine  has  not  been  hitherto  much  insisted  on,  it 
was  from  the  effect  of  a  policy  which  he  does  not  approve." 
Nay,  he  has  found  means  to  render  his  system  so  far  plausible 
in  his  party,  that  they  no  longer  oppose  any  thing  else  to  our  in- 
structions, and  believe  they  have  therein  so  strong  a  hold  as  not 
to  be  forced  from  it ;  so  that  the  last  resource  of  the  Protestant 
party  is  to  give  to  Jesus  Christ  a  kingdom  like  unto  that  of 
Satan  ;  a  kingdom  "  divided  against  itself,J  ready,"  by  conse- 
quence, "  to  be  brought  to  desolation,  and  whose  houses  are 
falling  one  upon  the  other." 

52. — The  history  of  this  opinion,  beginning  from  the  Socinians. — Division  in 
the  Reformation  between  M.  Claude  and  M.  Pajon. 

If  now  one  should  desire  to  know  the  history  and  progress 

of  this  opinion,  the  glory  of  the  invention  belongs  to  the  So- 

*  Syst.  de  I'Egl.  1.  i.  ch.  xx.  xxi.,  &c.  f  System.  Pref.  towards  the  end. 

I  Luke  xL  17,  18. 


268  THE    HISTORY    OP  [BOOK 

cinians.  These  men,  indeed,  agree  not  with  the  rest  of  Chris- 
tians in  fundamental  articles,  for  they  admit  but  two  ;  the  unity 
of  God  and  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ.  But,  they  say,  all 
those  who  profess  them  with  manners  suitable  to  this  profes- 
sion, are  true  members  of  the  Church  universal,  and  that  the 
dogma  superadded  to  this  foundation  hinder  not  salvation  ;  nor 
is  the  world  ignorant  of  the  notions  and  indifference  of  De- 
Dominis  on  this  head.  After  the  Synod  of  Charenton,  where 
the  Calvinists  received  the  Lutherans  to  communion,  notwith- 
standing the  separation  of  both  societies,  there  resulted  a  neces- 
sity of  acknowledging  one  and  the  same  Church  in  different 
communions.  The  Lutherans  were  far  from  this  sentiment ; 
but  Calixtus,*  one  of  the  most  renowned  and  learned  of  them, 
has,  in  our  days,  brought  it  into  vogue  in  Germany,  and  admits 
into  the  communion  of  the  universal  Church  all  sects  preserv- 
ing the  foundation,  without  even  excepting  the  Church  of  Rome. 
It  is  nearly  thirty  years  since  Huisseau,  minister  of  Saumur, 
pushed  on  the  consequence  of  this  doctrine  to  a  great  extent. 
This  minister,  already  famous  in  his  party  for  his  publication 
of  Ecclesiastical  Discipline  compared  with  the  decrees  of  na- 
tional Synods,  made  himself  much  spoken  of  by  the  plan  of 
reuniting  all  Christians  of  all  sects,  which  he  proposed  in  1670  ; 
and  M.  Jurieu  acquaints  us,|  that  he  had  many  sticklers,  not- 
withstanding the  solemn  condemnation  which  was  passed  on 
his  books  and  person.  A  little  while  since,  M.  Pajon,  the  fa- 
mous minister  of  Orleans,  in  his  answer  to  the  Pastoral  Letter 
of  the  French  clergy,  did  not  think  himself  able  to  maintain  the 
Church  system  defended  by  M.  Claude.  The  catholicity  or 
universality  of  the  Church  appeared  to  him  much  more  exten- 
sive than  his  brother  had  made  it ;  and  M.  Jurieu  gives  notice 
to  M.  Nicole, J  "that  answering  M.  Claude's  book  will  be 
doing  nothing,  unless  he  also  answer  that  of  M.  Pajon,  by  rea- 
son that  these  two  gentlemen  having  taken  different  paths,  one 
and  the  same  answer  cannot  satisfy  both." 

53. — Sentiments  of  the  Minister  Jurieu. 

In  this  division  of  the  Reformation,  driven  to  the  utmost 
straits  on  the  question  regarding  the  Church,  M.  Jurieu§  sided 
with  M.  Pajon ;  and  not  affrighted  with  the  separation  of 
Churches,  decides,  "  that  all  Christian  societies  which  agree  in 
some  tenets,  inasmuch  as  they  agree,  are  united  to  the  body  of 
the  Christimi  Church,  though  they  be  in  schism  one  against 
another,  even  to  daggers  drawing." 

Notwithstanding  these  so  general  expressions,  he  varies  in 

*  Calixt.  de  fid.  et  stud.  Cone.  Ecc.  n.  1,  2,  3,  4,  &c.  Ludg.  Bat.  1651. 

t  Avert,  aux.  Prot.  de  I'Eur.  at  the  beginning  of  the  Prejug.  p.  19. 

I  Ibid.  p.  12.  §  Prejug.  p.  4. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  269 

regard  of  the  Socinians  ;  for  at  first  in  his  "  allowable  Prepos- 
sessions," where  he  spoke  naturally  what  he  thought,  he  begins, 
by  enrolling  them  "  amongst  the  members  of  the  Christian 
Church."*  He  seems  a  little  puzzled  at  the  question,  whether 
or  not  one  may  save  his  soul  amongst  them  :  for  on  one  hand, 
he  seems  to  allow  none  capable  of  salvation  but  those  who  live 
in  sects  wherein  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  with  the  other 
fundamental  articles,  are  acknowledged ;  and  on  the  other,"]" 
after  compounding  "  the  body  of  the  Church  of  all  that  great 
heap  of  sects  which  make  profession  of  Christianity  in  all  pro- 
vinces of  the  world  put  together,"  wherein  the  Socinians  are 
visibly  comprehended,  he  concludes  in  express  terms,  "  that 
the  saints  and  elect  are  spread  in  all  parts  of  this  vast  body." 

The  Socinians  gained  their  cause,  and  M.  Jurieu  was  blamed, 
even  in  his  own  party,  for  having  been  too  favorable  to  them ; 
which  is  tho  reason  that  he  restrains  in  some  measure  his  ideas 
in  his  systems  :  for  whereas,  in  his  "  Prepossessions,"  he  placed 
naturally  in  the  body  of  the  universal  Church  all  sects  whatso- 
ever without  exception  :  in  the  system,  he  commonly  adds  to 
it  this  corrective,  "  at  least  those  who  preserve  the  fundamental 
articles  ;"  J  which  he  explains  in  behalf  of  the  Trinity,  and  other 
points  of  like  consequence.  Thereby  he  seemed  to  limit  his 
general  propositions :  but  at  last,  led  on  by  the  force  of  his 
principle,  he  broke  through  all  restraints  laid  on  him  by  the 
policy  of  the  party,  and  loudly  owned  that  the  true  faithful  may 
be  found  in  the  communion  of  a  Socinian  Church. 

This  is  the  history  of  that  opinion  which  makes  up  the  Catho- 
lic Church  out  of  separate  communions.  In  all  probability,  its 
authority  among  Protestants  would  be  great,  did  not  pohcy  ob- 
struct it.  The  disciples  of  Calixtus  multiply  in  the  Lutheran 
party.  As  for  the  Calvinists,  it  is  plain  that  the  new  system 
of  the  Church  prevails  among  them  ;  and  as  M.  Jurieu  signal- 
izes himself  in  that  party,  by  defending  it,  and  none  has  better 
laid  down  the  principles,  nor  better  foreseen  the  consequences 
of  it,  its  irregularity  cannot  be  shown  better,  than  by  relating  the 
disorder  into  which  that  minister  has  cast  himself  by  this  doctrine, 
and  the  advantage  he  at  the  same  time  affords  the  Catholics. 
54. — Salvation  may  be  had  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  according  to  this  Ministet, 

To  dive  to  the  bottom  of  his  notion,  his  distinction  of  the 
Church  considered  as  to  its  body,  and  of  the  Church  consi- 
dered as  to  its  soul,  must  be  presupposed.  §  The  profession 
of  Christianity  is  sufficient  to  make  part  of  the  body  of  the 
Church,  which  he  advances  against  M.  Claude,  who  com- 
pounds the  body  of  the  Church,  of  the  true  faithful  only ;  but 

Prej.  leg.  p,  4.  f  Ibid.  p.  4,  &c.  p.  8.  J  Ibid.  p.  133,  &c. 

§  Prej.  leg.  ch.  i.  Syst.  1.  i.  ch.  i. 
VOL.  II.  23* 


270  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

to  have  part  in  the  soul  of  the  Church,  it  is  necessary  to  be  in 
the  grace  of  God. 

This  distinction  supposed,  the  question  is,  what  sects  are 
simply  in  the  body  of  the  Church ;  and  what  are  those  in  which 
one  may  attain  to  partake  of  her  soul,  namely,  of  charity  and 
the  grace  of  God  1  which  he  explains  sufficiently  by  an  abridg- 
ment he  makes  of  Church  history.  This  he  begins,  by  saying* 
"  that  she  was  corrupted  after  the  third  century :"  this  date 
must  be  observed.  He  passes  over  the  fourth  century  with- 
out either  approving  or  blaming  it :  "  but,"  continues  he,|  "  in 
the  fifth,  the  sixth,  the  seventh,  and  the  eighth,  the  Church 
adopted  divinities  of  a  second  rate,  adored  relics,  made  herself 
images,  and  prostrated  herself  before  them  even  in  the  Churches ; 
and  then  grown  sickly,  deformed,  ulcerous,  she  was  alive  never- 
theless :"  so  that  her  soul  was  in  her  still,  and  what  is  worthy 
of  observation,  it  was  in  her  in  the  midst  of  idolatry. 

He  goes  on  saying,'!  "  ^^^^  ^^^®  universal  Church  divides  itself 
into  two  great  parties,  the  Greek  Church,  and  the  Latin  Church. 
The  Greek  Church,  before  this  great  schism,  was  already  sub- 
divided into  Nestorians,  Eutycheans,  Melchites,  and  divers 
other  sects  :  the  Latin  Church  into  Papists,  Vaudois,  Hussites, 
Taborites,  Lutherans,  Calvinists,  and  Anabaptists  ;  and  he  pro- 
nounces, that  it  is  an  error  to  imagine  all  these  different  parties 
had  absolutely  broken  off  from  Jesus  Christ,  by  breaking  one 
from  the  other." 

55. — The  Church  of  Rome  comprehended  amongst  the  living  Societies,  wherein 
the  fundamentals  of  Salvation  are  retained. 

Who  breaks  not  with  Jesus  Christ,  breaks  not  from  salvation 
and  life ;  accordingly,  he  counts  these  societies  amongst  the 
living  societies.  The  societies  that  are  dead,  accordino;  to  this 
minister,  are  "  those  which  ruin  the  foundation  ;  to  wit,  the 
Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  satisfaction  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
other  the  like  articles ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  of  the  Greeks, 
the  Armenians,  the  Cophts,  the  Abyssinians,  the  Russians,  the 
Papists,  and  Protestants  ;  all  these  societies,"  says  he,  "  have 
composed  the  Church,  and  therein  does  God  preserve  his  fun- 
damental truths.  "§ 

It  signifies  nothing,  to  object  that  they  subvert  these  truths 
by  consequences  drawn  in  good  form  from  their  principles  ; 
because,  as  they  disown  these  consequences,  they  ought  not, 
says  this  minister,] [  to  be  imputed  to  them;  for  which  reason, 
he  acknowledges  God's  elect  even  amongst  the  Eutychians, 
who  confounded  the  two  natures  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  amongst 
the  Nestorians,  who  divided  his  person.     "  There  is  no  room 

*  Prej.  leg.  ch.  i.  Syst.  1.  i.  ch.  i.  p.  5.  t  Ibid,  t  Ibid.  p.  6.  §  Syst.  pp. 
147,  149.     II  Ibid.  p.  155. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,   ETC.  271 

to  doubt,"  says  he,*  "  but  God  preserves  a  remnant  in  them  ac- 
cording to  the  election  of  grace  ;"  and  lest  it  should  be  imagined 
there  is  more  difficulty  with  respect  to  the  Church  of  Rome  than 
for  others,  by  reason  that  she  is,  according  to  him,  the  kingdom 
of  Antichrist,  he  clears  this  doubt  in  express  terms,  asserting 
"  that  God- s  elect  were  preserved  even  in  the  kingdom  of  Anti- 
christ, and  in  Babylon  itself. ""f 

56. — The  Jlntickristianism  oj  the  Church  of  Rome  no  hindrance  to  Men's 

saving  their  souls  in  it. 

The  minister  proves  it  by  these  words  : — "  Come  out  of  Bab- 
ylon, my  people. "J  Whence  he  concludes  that  the  people  of 
God,  that  is,  his  elect,  must  necessarily  have  been  in  it ;  but, 
continues  he,  "  they  were  not  in  it,  as  his  elect  are  in  some 
manner  amongst  the  heathens,  from  whom  they  are  withdrawn  ; 
for  God  does  not  call  those  his  -people  who  are  in  a  state  of 
damnation  ;  consequently,  the  elect  who  are  found  in  Babylon 
are  absolutely  out  of  this  state,  and  in  a  state  of  grace.  It  is," 
says  he,  "  clearer  than  day,  that  God,  in  these  words,  '  come 
out  of  Babylon,  my  people,'  alludes  to  the  Jews  of  the  Baby- 
lonian captivity,"  who  certainly,  "  in  this  state,  did  not  cease  to 
be  Jews  and  the  people  of  God." 

After  this  manner  the  spiritual  Jews  and  the  true  Israel  of 
God,§  that  is,  his  true  children,  are  to  be  found  in  the  commu- 
nion of  Rome,  and  will  be  found  there  to  the  end,  it  being  evi- 
dent that  this  sentence,  "  come  out  of  Babylon,  my  people,"  || 
is  pronounced  even  in  the  fall  and  desolation  of  that  mystical 
Babylon,  which  he  will  have  to  be  the  Church  of  Rome. 
57. — Men  may  be  saved  amongst  us  whilst  retaining  our  Faith  and  Worship. 

In  order  to  explain  how  men  are  saved  in  her,  the  minister 
distinguishes  tv/o  ways :  the  first,  which  he  has  taken  from  M. 
Claude,  is  the  way  of  separation  and  discernment,  when  one  is 
in  the  communion  of  a  Church  without  partaking  of  her  errors, 
and  of  whatever  may  be  evil  in  her  practices:  the  second,  added 
by  him  to  that  of  M.  Claude,  is  the  way  of  toleration  on  God's 
side,  when,  in  consideration  of  fundamental  truths  retained  in  a 
communion,  God  pardons  errors  superadded  to  them. 

That  he  comprehends  us  in  this  last  way  he  clearly  gives  to 
understand  in  his  system,  where  he  declares  the  conditions  upon 
which  one  may  hope  from  God  some  toleration  "  in  the  sects 
which  sap  the  foundation  by  their  additions,  yet  without  taking 
it  away."'TT  By  what  has  been  now  said,  it  is  plain  he  means 
us  and  those  like  to  us ;  and  the  condition  under  which  he  allows 
men  may  be  saved  in  such  a  kind  of  sect  is,  "  that  they  commu- 
nicate with  it  in  sincerity,  believing  that  it  has  preserved  the 

*  Prej.  cL  i.  p.  16.     f  Ibii     J  Svst.  p.  145.     §  Gal.  vi.  16.      1|  Rev.  xviii.  4. 

H  Syst.  TD.  173,  174. 


272  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

essence  of  the  sacraments,  and  obliges  to  nothing  against  con- 
science," which  shows  (so  far  from  obhging  those  who  abide 
in  those  sects  to  reject  their  doctrine  in  order  to  be  saved)  that 
they  who  remain  therein  with  the  greatest  sincerity,  and  are  the 
most  persuaded  as  well  of  the  doctrine  as  of  the  practices  in  use 
amongst  them,  may  be  the  soonest  saved. 

58. — One  may  be  saved  who  is  sincere  in  his  convej'sion  from  Calvinism  to  the 

Church  of  Rome. 

It  is  true  he  seems  to  add  two  other  conditions  also  :  one,  of 
having  been  engaged  in  these  sects  from  one's  birth ;  and  the 
other,  of  not  having  it  in  one's  power  to  communicate  with  a 
more  pure  society,  either  because  one  knows  none  such,  or  "  is 
not  m  a  condition  of  breaking"  with  the  society  he  happens  to 
be  in.*  But  afterwards  he  passes  beyond  these  bounds  :  for 
after  having  proposed  the  question,  whether  it  be  lawful  "  to  be 
one  ^hile  a  Greek,  another  while  a  Latin  ;  now  a  reformed, 
then  a  Papist ;  sometimes  a  Calvinist,  sometimes  a  Lutheran," 
he  answers,!  "  no,  when  you  make  profession  of  believing  what 
you  do  not  believe  in  fact.  But  if  you  pass  from  one  sect  to 
another  by  way  of  seduction,  and  because  you  cease  to  be  per- 
suaded of  certain  opinions  which  you  had  formerly  looked  upon 
as  true,"  he  declares  that  "  one  may  proceed  to  different  com- 
munions without  hazard  of  salvation,  as  well  as  remain  in  them  : 
because  those  who  pass  into  sects,  which  neither  ruin  nor  sub- 
vert the  foundations,  are  not  in  a  different  state  from  those  who 
are  born  in  them  ;"  so  that  one  may  not  only  remain  a  Latin 
and  Papist  when  born  in  this  communion,  but  also  come  into  it 
from  Calvinism,  without  forsaking  the  way  of  salvation ;  nor 
are  they  who  save  their  souls  amongst  us,  such  only,  as  said 
M.  Claude,  who  abide  amongst  us  without  approving  our  doc- 
trine, but  such  even  as  are  sincere  in  the  profession  of  it. 

59. — This  Doctrine  of  the  Minister  destroys  all  he  says  against  us  and  our 

Idolatries. 

Our  brethren,  the  pretended  Reformed,  may  thence  be  con- 
vinced, that  all  they  are  told  of  our  idolatries  is  wretchedly  ex- 
travagant. Never  was  it  believed  that  an  idolater  might  be 
saved  under  pretence  of  his  sincerity ;  so  gross  an  error,  so 
manifest  an  impiety,  is  incompatible  with  an  upright  conscience. 
Wherefore  the  idolatry  imputed  to  us  is  of  a  particular  species  ; 
it  is  an  idolatry  invented  to  excite  against  us  the  hatred  of  the 
wea!^  and  ignorant.  But  it  is  high  time  they  should  undeceive 
themselves  ;  for,  to  be  converted  is  no  such  great  misfortune, 
since  he  who  cries  out  the  loudest  against  our  idolatries,  and 
loads  with  most  reproaches  the  converters  and  converted,  is 
agreed  that  all  of  them  may  be  true  Christians. 

*  Syst.  pp.  158,  164,  259.        f  Ibid,  pp,  174,  175,  195. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  273 

GO. — The  Ethiopians  saved  adding  Circumcision  to  the  Sacraments  of  the 

Church. 

Neither  is  the  presumption  imputed  to  us  of  having,  on  one 
side,  augmented  the  number  of  the  Sacraments,  and  on  the 
other,  mutilated  the  Supper  by  cutting  off,  as  they  say,  a  part 
from  it,  any  longer  to  be  exaggerated  by  them  :  for  this  minis- 
ter declares  it  would  be  "  a  cruelty  to  turn  out  of  the  Church"* 
such  as  admit  other  sacraments  than  those  two,  which  he  pre- 
tends are  only  instituted  by  Jesus  Christ,  namely.  Baptism  and 
the  Supper  ;  and  so  far  from  excluding  us  thence  for  having 
added  to  them  Confirmation,  Extreme  Unction,  and  the  rest,  he 
does  not  even  exclude  from  it  the  Ethiopic  Christians,  who,  says 
he,  "  receive  circi^mcision,  not  by  the  politic  custom,  but  in 
quality  of  a  sacrament,  although  St.  Paul  has  declared,  '  If  ye 
be  circumcised,  Christ  shall  profit  you  nothing.'  "| 

61. — Communion  under  one  kind  contains,  according  to  the  Ministers,  the 
ivhole  substance  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrament. 

As  for  what  concerns  communion  under  one  kind,  nothing  is 
more  common  in  the  writings  of  the  ministers,  even  of  this 
author  himself,  than  to  say,  that  by  so  giving  the  Eucharistic 
sacrament  we  corrupt  the  foundation  and  essence  thereof; 
which,  in  matter  of  sacraments  is  saying  "  the  same  thing  as  if 
we  no  longer  had  them."  J  But  such  propositions  are  not  to  be 
taken  literally  as  they  stand  ;  since  M.  Claude  has  already  told 
us  that,  before  the  Reformation,  "  our  Fathers  receiving  but  in 
one  kind,  had  nevertheless  all  necessary  food  without  subtrac- 
tion of  any  part  thereof  ;"§  and  M.  Jurieu  says  still  more 
clearly  the  same  thing,  forasmuch  as  after  having  defined  the 
Church  "  the  aggregate  of  all  the  communions  which  preach  the 
same  Jesus  Christ,  which  declare  the  same  salvation,  which 
give  the  same  sacraments  in  substance,  and  which  teach  the 
same  doctrine,"  j|  he  counts  us  expressly  in  this  collection  of 
communions,  and  in  the  Church  ;  which  necessarily  supposes 
that  we  give  the  substance  of  the  Eucharist,  and  by  consequence, 
that  both  kinds  are  not  essential  to  it.  Let  our  brethren,  there- 
fore, no  longer  defer  coming  over  to  us  in  sincerity  and  truth, 
since  their  ministers  have  removed  for  them  the  greatest  obsta- 
cle, if  not  the  only  one,  which  they  allege  against  it. 

62. — The  excesses  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  softened  in  our  favor. 

The  truth  is,  there  appears  a  manifest  opposition  between 
this  system  and  the  Confessions  of  Faith  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  :  for  the  confessions  of  faith,  all  of  them,  unanimously 
give  two  only  marks  of  a  true  Church,  "  The  pure  preaching 
of  God's  word,  and  the  administration  of  the  Sacraments  con- 
formably to  the  institution  of  Jesus  Christ  ;"U  for  which  reason, 

*  Syst  pp.  539,  548.  f  Gal.  v.  2.  \  Syst.  p.  548.  §  S.  n.  37,  4L 
W  Ibid*,  p.  216.         TT  Prej.  legit,  p.  24. 


274  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

the  confession  of  faith  of  our  pretended  Reformed  has  con- 
cluded,* "  That  in  the  Roman  Church,  whence  the  pure  truth 
of  God  was  banished,  and  where  the  sacraments  were  corrupted, 
or  wholly  annihilated,  properly  speaking,  there  was  no  Church 
at  all."  But  our  minister  assures  us,|  these  expressions  are 
not  to  be  understood  in  their  strict  sense  ;  as  much  as  to  say, 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  exaggeration  and  excess  in  what  the 
Reformation  lays  to  our  charge. 

63. — The  tivo  marks  of  a  true  Church  given  by  Protestants  are  sufficiently  to  be 

seen  amongst  us. 

However,  it  is  something  curious  to  behold  how  the  minister 
will  acquit  himself  as  to  these  two  marks  of  the  true  Church  so 
solemn  in  the  whole  Protestant  party.  It  is  true,  says  he,J 
"  We  lay  them  down  :  we,  that  is  to  say,  we  Protestants  :  but 
for  ray  part,  I  would  give  the  thing,"  proceeds  he  "  another  turn, 
and  would  say,  that  to  know  the  body  of  the  Christian  and  uni- 
versal Church  in  general,  there  is  but  one  mark  requisite,  viz. 
the  confession  of  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  true  Messias 
and  Redeemer  of  mankind." 

This  is  not  all :  for  after  having  found  the  marks  of  the  body 
of  the  universal  Church,  "  It  is  necessary  to  find  those  of  the 
soul,  to  the  end  you  may  know  in  what  part  of  this  Church  God 
preserves  his  elect."  Here  it  is,  answers  the  minister,§  "  that 
we  must  return  to  our  two  marks,  pure  preaching,  and  pure 
administration  of  the  sacraments."  But  beware  you  be  not  de- 
ceived ;  "  this  is  not  to  be  taken  in  a  strict  sense."  j|  To  save 
the  essence  of  a  Church,  the  preaching  is  sufficiently  pure  when 
the  fundamental  truths  are  preserved,  what  error  soever  be 
superadded  ;  the  sacraments  are  sufficiently  pure,  notwithstand- 
ing tie  additions  :  let  us  add,  following  the  aforesaid  principle, 
notwithstanding  the  subtractions  which  spoil  them  :  forasmuch 
as,  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  the  foundation  subsists,  and  "  God 
applies  to  his  elect  what  good  there  is,  hindering  whatsoever  of 
human  institution  from  turning  to  their  prejudice  and  destruc- 
tion." We  conclude,  therefore,  with  this  minister,  that  nothing 
of  what  has  been  said  on  this  subject  in  the  Confession  of  Faith 
must  be  taken  in  a  strict  sense  ;  and  moreover,  that  the  Church 
of  Rome,  (Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  calm  your  hatred!)  the 
Church  of  Rome,  I  say,  so  much  hated  and  so  much  con- 
demned, in  spite  of  all  your  confessions  of  faith  and  all  your 
reproaches,  may  glory  in  having,  in  a  very  true  sense,  as 
far  G.S  is  necessary  to  form  the  children  of  God,  "  the  pure 
preaching  of  the  Word,  and  the  right  administration  of  the 
Sacraments." 

*  Art.  xxviii.  S.  n.  26.  f  Ibid.  J  Prej.  legit,  p.  25.     Syst.  p.  214. 

§  Ibid.  p.  25.        II  Ibid. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  275 

64. — The  Confession  of  Faith  hath  no  longer  any  authority  amongst  the 

Ministers. 

If  it  be  said,  these  favorable  interpretations  of  the  Confessions 
of  Faith  are  quite  opposite  to,  and  destroy  the  text ;  that  for 
instance,  what  is  there  said  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  that  truth 
is  "  banished  from  her,  the  sacraments  either  falsified  or  wholly 
annihilated,  and  properly  speaking,  that  we  have  no  such  thing 
as  a  Church  among  us  ;"*  are  far  different  things  from  what  we 
have  just  heard  from  our  ministers.  I  own  as  much  ;  but  tho  rea- 
son in  short  is,  they  have  found  by  experience  that  there  i'i  no 
longer  any  possibility  of  maintaining  their  confessions  of  faith,  to 
wit,  the  foundations  of  the  Reformation.  Nor  indeed  is  ii  less 
truth  that,  in  the  main,  little  are  the  ministers  concerned  about 
them  ;  and  it  is  only  from  a  point  of  honor  that  they  give  them- 
selves any  pains  to  answer  in  their  behalf;  which  was  the  cause 
of  the  minister  Jurieu's  inventing  the  aforesaid  answers,  more 
polite  and  better  suited  to  his  turi!,  than  sincere  and  solid. 

65. — This  system  changes  the  language  of  CJiristians,  and  confounds  their  ideas, 
even  of  those  of  the  Reformation. 

Now,  to  maintain  this  new  system,  a  courage  is  requisite  ca- 
pable of  withstanding  any  difficulty,  and  not  to  be  startled  at 
any  novelty.  Although  men  be  animated  against  one  another 
even  to  "  daggers  drawing,"  it  must  be  said,  they  are  but  one 
body  in  Jesus  Christ. t  If  any  one  rebel  against  the  Church, 
and  scandalize  her,  either  by  his  crimes  or  his  errors,  one  ^v  ould 
think,  by  excommunicating  him,  he  is  cut  off  from  the  body  of 
the  Church  in  general,  and  thus  have  Protestants  spokrn  as 
well  as  we  :  it  is  a  mistake  :  this  scandalous  and  this  heretical 
person  is  cut  off  but  from  one  particular  flock,  and  do  what  you 
will,  remains  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church  by  the  sole  pro- 
fession of  the  Christian  name  :  notwithstanding  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  pronounced,  "  If  any  one  neglect  to  hear  the  Church,  look 
upon  him,"  J  not  as  a  man  that  is  cut  off  from  a  particular  flock, 
and  who  remains  in  the  great  one  of  the  Church  in  general,  but 
look  upon  him  as  "  a  heathen  and  a  publican,"  as  an  alien  from 
Christianity,  as  a  man  that  has  no  longer  any  part  with  God's 
people. 

66. — Manifest  contrariety  betioeen  the  notions  of  the  Minister  in  regard  of  Ex- 
communication, and  those  of  his  oiy?i  Church. 

Further,  what  M.  Jurieu  here  advances  is  a  particular  opin- 
ion wherein  he  evidently  contradicts  his  own  Church.  A  na- 
tional Synod  has  defined  excommunication  in  these  terms  :  "  to 
excommunicate,"  say  they,  "  is  to  cut  a  man  off  from  the  body 
of  the  Church  like  a  rotten  member,  and  to  deprive  him  of  her 
communion  and  all  her  benefits. "§     And  in  the  proper  form  of 

*  Art.  xxviii.  f  Ibid.  S.  n.  15.  |  Matt,  xviii.  17. 

§  2  Syn.  of  Par.  1565.  Disci,  ch.  5.  Art.  17.  p.  102. 


276  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

excommunication,  the  people  are  thus  addressed  :  "  We  remove 
this  rotten  member  from  the  society  of  the  faithful,  that  he  may 
be  to  you  as  a  heathen  and  a  publican."  M.  Jurieu*  spares  no 
pains  to  embroil  this  matter  with  his  distinctions  of  sentence 
declaratory  and  sentence  juridical ;  sentence  which  cuts  off  from 
the  body  of  the  Church,  and  sentence  which  cuts  off  only  from 
a  particular  confederation.  He  invents  these  distinctions  only 
that  the  reader  may  lose  himself  in  the  maze  of  these  subtle- 
ties, and  not  perceive  he  is  fed  with  empty  sound.  For,  after 
all,  he  never  will  be  able  to  show,  in  the  pretended  Reformed 
Churches,  any  other  excommunication,  separation,  lopping  off, 
than  the  abovementioned ;  nor  can  one  depart  more  expressly 
from  it,  than  does  M.  Jurieu.  He  pronounces,  and  repeats  in 
a  hundred  places  and  a  hundred  different  ways,  that  "  it  is  im- 
possible to  banish  a  man  from  the  universal  Church  ;"|  and  his 
Church  says  on  the  contrary,  that  the  excommunicated  person 
must  be  looked  upon  as  a  heathen,  who  no  longer  appertains  to 
God's  people.  M.  Jurieu  proceeds  :  J  "  All  excommunication 
whatsoever  is  made  by  a  particular  Church,  and  is  nothing  else 
but  an  expulsion  from  a  particular  Church ;"  and  we  see,  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  his  religion,  that  a  particular  Church 
severs  a  man  from  the  body  of  the  Church  as  "  one  does  a  rot- 
ten member,"  which  doubt)  ess  no  longer  cleaves  to  any  part  of 
the  body  after  it  is  once  divided  from  it. 

67. — Confessions  of  Faith  but  arbitrary  conventions. 
Let  us,  nevertheless,  consider  again  what  are  these  partic- 
ular Churches  and  these  particular  flocks,  from  which  he  sup- 
poses one  is  separated  by  excommunication.  The  Minister 
explains  himself  by  this  principle  :§  "  All  whatever  different 
flocks  have  no  other  external  link  than  that  which  is  made  by 
way  of  voluntary  and  arbitrary  confederation,  such  as  was  that 
of  the  Christian  Churches  in  the  third  age,  on  account  that  they 
found  themselves  united  under  the  same  temporal  prince."  So 
that,  ever  since  the  third  age,  when  the  Church  was  still  found 
in  her  purity,  the  Churches,  according  to  the  Minister,  were  no 
otherwise  united  than  by  an  arbitrary  confederacy,  or,  as  he 
elsewhere  styles  it,  "  by  accident,."  ||  What !  Those  Christians 
then  who  were  not  subject  to  the  Roman  Empire,  those  who 
were  spread  from  the  time  of  St.  Irenaeus,  and  even  from  the 
time  of  St.  Justin,  amidst  the  Barbarians  and  Scythians,  were 
they  under  no  external  band  with  the  other  Churches,  and  had 
they  not  a  right  to  communicate  with  them '?  This  is  not  the 
notion  they  have  formerly  given  us  of  Christian  fraternity.  All 
that  are  orthodox  have  a  right  to  communicate  with  an  orthodox 

*  Syst  1.  ii.  ch.  iii.  '  f  Syst.  p.  24,  &c.  J  Ibid, 

§  Prej.  p.  6.     Syst.  pp.  246,  &c.  254,  262,  269,  305,  557.  ||  Ibid.  p.  265. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  277 

Church  ;  all  that  are  Catholic,  to  wit,  all  members  of  the  Church 
universal,  with  the  whole  Church.  All  those  who  bear  the  mark 
of  the  children  of  God  have  a  right  to  be  admitted  wherever  they 
find  the  table  of  their  common  Father,  provided  their  manners 
be  approved :  but  here  comes  one  to  disturb  this  fine  order ; 
you  are  no  longer  in  society,  "  but  by  accident ;"  Christian  fra- 
ternity is  changed  into  arbitrary  confederacies,  which  you  may 
extend  at  will,  more  or  less,  according  to  the  different  confes- 
sions of  faith  agi'eed  upon.*  These  confessions  of  faith  are 
treaties  in  which  you  insert  whatever  you  please.  Some  have 
put  in  them,  "  that  they  are  to  teach  the  verities  of  grace  as  ex- 
pounded by  St.  Austin,"!  and  these,  we  are  told,  are  the  pre- 
tended Reformed  churches  :  far  from  truth ;  nobody  is  less,  in 
their  doctrine,  than  St.  Austin ;  yet  they  are  pleased  to  say  so. 
These  men  are  not  allowed  to  be  "  Semipelagians,  and  the  Swiss, 
no  less  than  those  of  Geneva,  would  exclude  them  from  their 
communions.  "J  As  for  those  who  have  not  made  the  like  con- 
vention, they  shall  be  Semipelagians,  if  they  please.  What  is 
still  more,  those  who  have  entered  into  the  confederacy  of  Ge- 
neva and  that  of  the  pretended  Reformed,  where  one  thinks  he 
is  obliged  to  maintain  the  grace  of  St.  Austin,  "  may  depart  from 
the  agreement  ;"§  but  then  they  must  be  contented  to  be  sepa- 
rated from  a  confederation  whose  laws  they  have  violated,  and 
"  what  one  would  tolerate  everywhere  else,"  can  be  no  longer  tol- 
erated in  those  flocks  in  which  other  conventions  had  been  made, 

68. — Independentism  established  contrary  to  the  Decree  of  Charenton, 

But  what  will  become  of  those  men  who  break  the  agreement 
of  the  Calvinian  Reformation,  or  of  some  such  other  like  con- 
federacy ?  Shall  they  be  then  obliged  to  enter  into  league  with 
some  other  Church  ?  No  such  thing  :  "  It  is  nowise  necessary, 
when  you  separate  yourself  from  one  Church,  to  find  out  another 
to  adhere  to."||  I  am  aware  he  is  forced  to  say  so,  because 
otherwise  he  could  not  excuse  the  Protestant  Churches,  which, 
on  their  separation  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  were  not  able  to 
find  on  earth  a  Church  they  could  embrace.  But  we  must  hear 
the  reason  which  authorizes  such  a  separation.  "  It  is,"  con- 
tinues M.  Jurieu,l[  "  because  all  Churches  are  naturally  free  and 
independent  of  one  another  ;"  or,  as  he  explains  it  in  another 
place,  "  naturally  and  originally,  all  Churches  are  independent." 

Here  is  exactly  our  doctrine,  will  say  the  Independents  ;  we 
are  the  true  Christians  that  defend  tl#s  primitive  and  natural  lib- 
erty of  Churches.  Yet  Charenton  has  nevertheless  condemned 
them  in  1644.     Therefore  by  anticipation  has  also  condemned 

*  Syst.  p.  254.  t  Ibid.  J  Ibid.  p.  249.  §  Ibid.  p.  254. 

II  Lib.  iii.  ch.  xv.  p.  547.  II  Ibid. 

VOL.   II.  24 


278  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

M.  Jurieu,  who  maintains  them  ;*  but  let  us  hear  the  Decree. 
"  Whereas  it  has  been  represented,  that  many  who  call  them- 
selves Independents,  because  they  teach  that  every  church  ought 
to  govern  herself  by  her  own  laws  ivithout  any  dependance  on 
any  body  in  Church  matters,  and  free  from  any  obligation  of  ac- 
knowledging the  authority  of  Conferences  and  Synods  for  their 
conduct  and  government ;"  that  is,  without  any  confederation 
with  any  other  Church  whatsoever  ;  and  tliis  is  exactly  the  case 
of  M.  Jurieu.  But  the  Synod's  answer  is  very  different  from 
his  :  for  the  Synod  pronounces,  "  that  it  ought  to  be  dreaded, 
lest  this  poison  insensibly  diffusing  itself,  should  create,"  say 
they,  "  disorder  and  confusion  amongst  us,  should  open  a  gate 
to  ail  kind  of  irregularities  and  extravagances,  and  make  void 
all  means  of  applying  a  remedy  ;  which  would  be  equally  prej- 
udicial to  Church  and  State,  and  give  room  to  form  as  many  re- 
ligions as  there  are  parishes  and  particular  assemblies."  And 
M.  Jurieu  concludes,  on  the  contrary,  that  by  separating  from 
one  Church  without  adhering  to  another,  you  do  nothing  but  re- 
tain "  the  liberty  and  independence,  which  naturally  and  origi- 
nally belongs  to  Churches,"  namely,  that  liberty  which  Jesus 
Christ,  at  their  formation,  bestowed  upon  them. 

69. — All  authority  and  subordination  of  Churches  depends  on  Princes. 

xlccordingly,  there  is  no  way  of  maintaining,  conformably  to 
the  principles  of  this  minister,  these  Conferences  and  Synods. 
For  he  supposes,  in  case  a  Cathohc  kingdom  should  divide  itself 
from  Rome,  and  then  subdivide  itself  into  many  sovereignties, 
that  each  Prince  might  make  a  Patriarch,  and  establish,  in  his 
state,  a  government  absolutely  independent  of  that  of  its  neigh- 
boring states  "  without  appeal,"  without  union,  without  corre- 
spondence ;!  for  all  that,  in  his  notion,  depends  on  the  Prince  ; 
and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  he  makes  the  first  confederation  of 
Churches  depend  on  the  unity  of  the  Roman  Empire.  But,  if 
this  be  so,  his  uncle,  Lewis  du  Moulin,  gains  his  cause  :  for  he 
pretends, J  that  all  this  subordination  of  Conferences  and  Synods 
(if  you  consider  it  as  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual)  is  nothing  else 
but  Popery  in  disguise,  and  the  ushering  in  of  Antichrist ;  con- 
sequently, that  there  is  no  power  in  this  distribution  of  Churches 
but  from  the  Sovereign's  authority  ;  and  that  excommunications 
and  degradations  made  by  Synods,  whether  provincial  or  na- 
tional, have  no  authority  but  from  thence.  But  by  a  little  fur- 
ther extension  of  this  argmpent,  the  excommunications  of  con- 
sistories will  appear  no  more  effectual  than  those  of  Synods  : 
so  that,  either  there  will  be  no  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and  the 
Independents  are  in  the  right ;  or,  it  will  be  lodged  in  the  Prince's 

*  Disc.  ch.  vi.  of  the  union  of  Churches.     Notes  on  the  2d  Art.  p.  118. 

t  Syst.  p.  546.  I  Fasci.  Ep.  Lud.  Moh. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  279 

hand  ;  and,  in  fine,  Lewis  du  Moulin  must  have  converted  his 
nephew,  who  so  long  opposed  his  errors. 

70. — The  true  Christian  Unity. 
See  what  this  system  comes  to,  wherein  the  whole  solution 
of  this  difficulty  about  the  Church  is  placed  ;  it  is  matter  of  as- 
tonishment to  hear  these  novelties.  What  an  error  to  imagine 
there  is  no  external  Union  between  Christian  Churches,  but  de- 
pendently  on  Princes,  or  by  some  other  "  arbitrary  and  voluntary 
confederation ;"  and  not  be  sensible  that  Jesus  Christ  hath 
obliged  his  faithful  to  live  in  a  Church,  to  wit,  as  is  owned,  in 
an  exterior  society,  and  to  communicate  with  one  another,  not 
only  in  the  same  faith  and  the  same  sentiments,  but  also,  when 
they  meet,  in  the  same  sacraments  and  the  same  service  ;  in- 
somuch that,  however  distant  churches  be,  yet  are  they  but  the 
same  Church  distributed  into  divers  places,  the  diversity  of 
places  not  hindering  the  unity  of  the  holy  table,  at  which  all 
communicate  one  with  another,  as  they  do  with  Jesus  Christ 
their  common  head. 

71. — Rashness  of  the  Minister,  who  owns  that  his  System  is  contrary  to  the 

Faith  of  all  ages. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  origin  of  this  new  system  which  we 
have  just  now  taken  a  view  of.  Its  author  boasts,*  perhaps,  as 
he  does  in  other  tenets,  of  having  on  his  side  the  three  first  ages ; 
and,  it  is  hkely,  the  opinion  which  includes  the  whole  Church 
in  one  and  the  same  communion  (it  being  pretended  so  tyran- 
nical) will  be  born  under  the  empire  of  Antichrist :  no  ;  it  was 
born  in  Asia,  even  in  the  third  age  :  Firmilian,  so  great  a  man, 
and  his  colleagues,  such  great  bishops,  are  the  authors  of  it :  it 
passed  over  into  Africa,  where  St.  Cyprian,  a  martyr  so  illus- 
trious, and  the  light  of  the  Church,  embraced  it  with  the  whole 
council  of  Africa ;  and  it  was  this  cruel  opinion  which  made 
them  rebaptize  all  heretics,  no  other  reason  for  it  being  alleged 
by  them,  but  that  heretics  were  not  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

It  must  be  owned  St.  Cyprian  made  use  of  the  following  bad 
argument :  Heretics  and  Schismatics  are  not  of  the  body  of  the 
Catholic  Church ;  therefore  they  ought  to  be  rebaptized  at  their 
coming  into  it.  But  M.  Jurieu  would  not  have  the  assurance 
to  say,  that  the  principle  of  the  unity  of  the  Church,  abused  by 
St.  Cyprian,  was  as  new  as  the  consequence  he  drew  from  it, 
since  this  minister  acknowledges,!  "  that  the  false  idea  of  the 
unity  of  the  Church  was  formed  on  the  history  of  the  two  first 
ages  down  to  the  middle,  or  end  of  the  third.  We  must  not 
wonder,"  continues  he,  "  that  the  Church  accounted  all  the  sects 
which  existed  during  those  times,  as  entirely  separated  from  the 
body  of  the  Church,  for  that  was  true ;"  and  he  adds,  "  it  was 
*  Syst.  1.  i.  ch.  vii.  viii.  f  Ibid.  p.  55. 


280  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

at  that  time,  namely  in  the  two  first  ages  down  to  the  middle  of 
the  third,*  that  they  got  a  habit  of  believing  that  heretics  did 
not  in  any  manner  appertain  to  the  Church :"  so  that  the  doc- 
trine of  St.  Cyprian,  which  he  accuses  of  novelty,  nay,  of  ty- 
ranny, was  a  habit  contracted  ever  since  the  first  two  ages  of 
the  Church  ;  that  is,  from  the  beginning  of  Christianity. 

It  must  no  less  be  owned  that  this  doctrine  of  St.  Cyprian, 
concerning  the  unity  of  the  Church,  was  not  invented  on  the  oc- 
casion of  rebaptizing  heretics,  by  reason  that  the  book,  "  Con- 
cerning the  Unity  of  the  Church,"  wherein  the  doctrine  exclu- 
ding heretics  and  schismatics  is  so  clearly  laid  down,  did  pre- 
cede the  dispute  of  rebaptization  ;  so  that  St.  Cyprian  entered 
naturally  into  this  doctrine  consequently  to  the  tradition  of  the 
two  foregoing  ages. 

Nor  is  it  less  certain  that  the  whole  Church  had  embraced  this 
doctrine  equally  with  him,  long  before  the  dispute  of  rebaptizing. 
For  this  dispute  began  under  St.  Stephen,  Pope.  Now,  before 
this,  and  not  only  in  the  time  of  St.  Lucius,  his  predecessor,  but 
also  from  the  beginning  of  the  pontificate  of  St.  Cornelius,  pre- 
decessor to  St.  Lucius,  Novcitian  and  his  followers^  had  been 
looked  upon  as  separated  from  the  communion  of  all  the  Bishops 
and  Churches  of  the  world,  although  they  had  not  renounced  the 
profession  of  Christianity,  nor  overthrown  any  fundamental  arti- 
cle. From  that  time,  therefore,  even  those  that  preserved  the 
fundamentals,  if  under  other  pretexts  they  broke  unity,  were  ac- 
counted separated  from  the  universal  Church. 

Thus  is  it  an  unquestionable  fact,  that  the  doctrine  impugned 
by  M.  Jurieu  was  received  by  the  whole  Church,  not  only  before 
the  quarrel  about  rebaptization,  but  even  from  the  first  origin  of 
Clii-istianity  ;  and  was  made  use  of  by  St.  Cyprian,  not  as  a  new 
foundation  which  he  gave  to  his  error,  but  as  a  common  principle 
in  which  the  whole  world  concurred. 

72. — The  Minister  contradicts  himself  by  asserting  the  Council  of  J^ice  to  be 

of  his  sentiments. 

The  Minister  had  the  presumption  to  say,J  that  his  ideas  of 

the  Church  are  the  same  with  those  of  the  Nicene  Council,  and 

concludes,  "  that  this  holy  council  did  not  reject  all  heretics  from 

the  communion  of  the  Church,  because  it  did  not  command  all 

of  them  to  be  rebaptized,  neither  requiring  this  in  regard  of  the 

Novatians  or  Cathari,  nor  of  the  Donatists,  nor  of  the  rest  that 

retained  the  foundation  of  faith,  but  only  of  the  Paulianists, 

namely,  the  followers  of  Paul  of  Samosata,  who  denied  the 

Trinity  and  Incarnation."     But,  waiving  other  arguments,  the 

Minister  needs  but  hear  himself,  in  order  to  be  convicted.     He 

speaks  of  the  Council  of  Nice  "  as  of  the  most  universal  ever 

*  Syst.  1.  i.  ch.  vii.  viii.  p.  56.     f  Epist.  Cyp.  ad  Antonian.,  &c.    J  Syst.  p.  61. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  281 

held  ;"*  but  which,  nevertheless,  was  not  altogether  so,  since 
"  the  great  assemblies  of  the  Novatians  and  Donatists  were 
not  called  to  it."  I  desire  no  more  than  tliis  confession  to  con- 
clude, that  consequently  they  were  not  accounted,  at  that  time, 
as  part  of  the  universal  Church,  since  there  was  not  so  much  as 
the  least  thought  of  calling  them  to  the  Council  expressly  con- 
vened to  represent  her. 

And,  in  fact,  let  us  hear  how  tliis  Council  speaks  of  the  No- 
vatians or  Cathari :  those,  says  the  council,|  "  when  they  shall 
come  to  the  Catholic  Church."  Enough  said ;  the  dispute  is 
ended  :  in  the  Church,  therefore,  they  could  not  be.  Nor  does 
it  speak  in  other  terms  of  the  Paulianists  whose  baptism  it  con- 
demns ;  J  as  for  the  Paulianists,  when  they  ask  to  be  received 
into  the  Catholic  Church,  see  again  ;  in  it,  therefore,  they  were 
not,  according  to  the  notions  of  these  Fathers,  and  the  minister 
agrees  therein.  But  that  he  may  no  longer  presume  to  say,  that 
those  whose  baptism  is  received  are  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
not  those  whose  baptism  is  rejected  ;  the  coimcil  puts  out  of  the 
Church  no  less  those  whose  baptism  it  approves,  as  tlie  Nova- 
tians, than  those  whom  it  makes  be  rebaptized,  as  the  Paulian- 
ists ;  consequently,  tliis  difference  did  not  at  all  depend  on  those 
being  deputed  members  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  not  these. 

As  much  must  be  said  of  the  Donatists,  the  Council  of  Nice 
neither  admitting  of  their  communion  nor  their  bishops  ;  on  the 
contrary,  receiving  to  its  sessions  Cecilian,  bishop  of  Carthage, 
from  whom  the  Donatists  had  separated.  The  council,  there- 
fore, looked  upon  the  Donatists  as  separated  from  the  universal 
Church. 

Let  the  minister  now  come  and  tell  us  that  the  Fathers  of  the 
Nicene  council  are  of  his  opinion,  or  that  their  doctrine  was 
new,  or  that  when  they  pronounced  against  the  Arians  this  sen- 
tence— "  The  holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  anathemizes 
them," — they  left  them  fellow-members  of  this  same  Catholic 
Church,  and  did  but  banish  them  from  a  voluntary  and  arbitrary 
confederation,  which  they  might  extend,  more  or  less,  according 
to  their  fancy  :  such  discourses  ought  to  appear  nothing  less 
than  prodigies. 

73. — The  Minister  is  condetrvaed  by  the  Creeds  which  he  receives. 
The  Minister  counts  amongst  the  symbols  received  by  the 
whole  world,  that  of  the  Apostles,  that  of  Nice,  and  that  of 
Constantinople.  We  are  agreed,  indeed,  that  these  three  creeds 
make  but  one,  and  that  the  Apostles'  creed  is  but  explained  by 
that  of  the  two  first  QScumenical  councils.  §  We  have  seen 
the  sentiments  of  the  Council  of  Nice.     The  Council  of  Coii- 

*  Syst.  p.  234.  t  Cone.  Nic.  Can.  \iii.  t  Ibid.  Can.  xix. 

§  Cone.  c.  p.  Epist.  ad  Omn.  Episc. 
VOL.   II.  24  * 


282  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

stantinople  proceeds  on  the  same  principles,  in  that  it  banishes 
all  sects  from  its  unity :  whence  it  concludes,  in  its  letter  to  all 
the  bishops,  that  the  body  of  the  Church  is  not  divided  ;  and  it 
was  conformably  to  this  same  spirit  that  it  said  in  its  creed — "  I 
believe  one  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apostohc  Church," — adding  this 
word  one,  to  those.  Holy  and  Catholic,  which  were  in  the  Symbol 
of  the  Apostles,  and  strengthening  it  by  that  of  JlpostoHc,  in 
order  to  show  that  the  Church  thus  defined  and  perfectly  one  by 
the  exclusion  of  all  sects,  was  that  which  was  founded  by  the 
Apostles. 

74. — The  Minister  endeavors  to  weaken  the  authority  of  the  Apostles'*  Creed. 

The  judicious  reader  expects  here  to  know  what  this  hardy 
minister  will  say  in  regard  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  touching 
that  article,  "  I  believe  the  Catholic  Church."  Until  now  it  had 
been  believed,  and  even  in  the  Reformation,  that  this  creed,  so 
unanimously  received  by  all  Christians,  was  an  abridgment,  and 
as  a  summary  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Scripture. 
But  the  minister  tells  us  quite  the  contrary  ;*  for,  after  deciding 
that  the  Apostles  were  not  the  authors  of  it,  he  will  not  even 
grant,  what  none  else  denied  till  now,  that,  at  least,  it  was  made 
wholly  according  to  their  spirit.  He  says,  therefore,  "  that  we 
must  look  for  the  sense  of  the  ai"ticles  of  the  creed,  not  in  the 
Scripture,  but  in  the  intention  of  those  who  composed  it."  But, 
proceeds  he,  "  the  creed  was  not  made  all  at  once  :  the  article — 
*  I  believe  the  Catholic  Church' — was  added  in  the  fourth  age." 
What  does  this  reasoning  tend  to  else,  but  to  prepare  himself  a 
refuge  against  the  creed,  and  give  it  only  the  authority  of  the 
fourth  age'l  Whereas  all  Christians  to  this  time  have  held  it  for 
a  common  Confession  of  Faith,  of  all  ages,  and  of  all  Christian 
Churches,  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles. 

75. — Jl  neio  gloss  of  the  Minister  on  the  ^postles^  Creed. 
But  let  us  see,  nevertheless,  in  what  manner  he  will  define  the 
Catholic  Church  conformably  to  the  creed.  He  at  once  rejects 
the  definition  which  he  imputes  to  Catholics  ;'|'  nor  does  he  ap- 
prove more  of  that  which  he  attributes  to  Protestants.  For  his 
part,  he,  who  no  less  raises  himself  above  his  brethren,  the 
Protestants,  than  above  his  adversaries,  the  Catholics,  being  to 
define  the  Church  of  all  times,  he  does  it  thus  :  "  it  is  the  body 
of  those  who  make  profession  of  believing  Jesus  Christ  the  true 
Messias ;  a  body  divided  into  a  great  number  of  sects  ;"  he 
must  add  besides,  which  excommunicate  one  another,  to  the  end 
that  all  anathematized  Heresies,  nay,  all  Schismatics,  though 
divided  from  their  brethren,  "  even  to  daggers  drawing,"  (to  use 
the  minister's  expression,)  may  have  the  happiness  of  being  in 

*  Prej.  leg.  ch.  ii.  pp.  27,  28.    Syst.  p.  217.  f  Prej.  p.  29. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  283 

the  Church  expressed  by  the  creed,  and  in  the  Christian  unity 
which  it  teaches  us.  This  is  what  men  are  bold  enough  to  say 
in  the  Reformation,  and  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  carries 
among  them,  in  its  proper  definition,  the  character  of  the  divi- 
sion "  whereby  every  kingdom  (as  the  Gospel  says)  is  brought 
to  desolation."* 

76. — The  Minister  destroys  the  notion  of  a  Catholic  Church  taught  by  himself 
lohen  he  explaiiud  the  Catechism. 

The  minister  should  at  least  have  called  to  mind  the  Cate- 
chism, which  he  himself  taught  at  Sedan  so  many  years;  wherein, 
after  reciting  "  I  believe  the  Catholic  Church,"  it  concludes, 
*'  that  out  of  the  Church  there  is  nothing  but  damnation  and 
death,  and  that  all  those  who  separate  themselves  from  the  com- 
munity of  the  faithful  to  make  a  sect  apart,  ought  not  to  hope 
salvation."!  It  is  very  certain,  that  the  Church  here  spoken  of 
is  the  universal  Church  ;  therefore,  in  respect  to  her,  one  may 
make  a  sect  apart,  one  may  separate  himself  from  her  unity. 
I  ask,  whether  in  this  place  to  make  "  a  sect  apart,"  be  a  word 
that  implies  apostacy  ?  Is  it  necessary  for  him  that  makes  a 
sect  apart,  to  put  on  a  turban,  and  publicly  renounce  his  bap- 
tism 1  Do  men  speak  thus  ?  Should  they  speak  thus,  in  a 
catechism,  to  an  innocent  child,  on  purpose  to  confound  all  his 
ideas,  and  that  he  may  no  longer  know  what  to  stick  to  1 

77. — The  Schism  of  Jeroboam  and  the  Twelve  Tribes  is  justified. 
Methinks  I  labor  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  by  continuing  the 
recital  of  this  minister's  errors,  the  most  exorbitant  and  palpable 
that  the  defence  of  a  bad  cause  has  perhaps  ever  cast  man  into. 
What  he  was  forced  to  invent  in  support  of  the  new  system,  is 
still  more  strange,  if  possible,  and  more  unheard  of  than  the 
system  itself.  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  perplex  all  the  ideas 
with  which  the  Scripture  furnishes  us.  It  speaks  to  us  of  the 
schism  of  Jeroboam  J  as  of  a  detestable  action,  which  began  by 
a  revolt,  which  maintained  itself  by  a  downright  idolatry  in  ado- 
ring calves  of  gold,  so  far  even  as  to  forsake  the  ark  of  the  cov- 
enant ;§  in  fine,  to  renounce  the  law  of  Moses,  to  cast  off  the 
priesthood  of  Aaron  and  the  whole  Levitical  ministry,  to  conse- 
crate false  priests  of  strange  gods  and  of  devils.  Yet  must  it 
be  said,  nevertheless,  that  these  Schismatics,  these  Heretics, 
these  Apostates  from  the  law,  these  Idolaters,  made  part  of  God's 
people  ;||  that  the  seven  thousand  whom  God  had  reserved  to 
himself,  and  the  remainder  of  the  elect  in  Israel,  adhered  to  the 
schism  ;  that  the  prophets  of  the  Lord  communicated  with  these 
Schismatics  and  Idolaters,  and  broke  off  from  Judah,  which  was 
the  place  that  God  had  chosen  ;  and  a  schism  aggravated  with 

*  Luke  xi.  17.      -f  Catechism  of  the  Prot.  Ref.  Dim.  17.      f  Kin^s  iii.  12. 
2  Par.  ix.  13.  §  2  Paralip.  xi.  15.  H  Syst.  1.  i.  ch.  xiii. 


284  THE  HISTORY  OF  [bOOK 

such  circumstances  ought  not,  it  seems,  to  be  counted  "  among 
those  sins  which  destroy  grace."*  If  this  be  true,  the  whole 
Scripture  must  be  nothing  but  delusion  and  the  most  excessive 
exaggeration  that  can  be  found  in  all  human  language.  But  then, 
what  must  be  said  to  the  texts  alleged  by  M.  Jurieu  1  Any 
thing,  rather  than  to  own  so  enormous  a  doctrine,  and  to  place 
manifest  idolaters  in  the  communion  of  God's  children,  for  this 
is  no  proper  place  for  a  deeper  research  into  this  subject. 
78. — The  Church  in  the  Apostle's  time  is  accused  of  Schism  and  Heresy. 

No  more  does  the  Christian  than  the  Jewish  Church  escape 
the  hands  of  this  minister.!  He  attacks  her  in  her  prime  and 
vigor,  even  in  those  happy  days  when  she  was  governed  by  the 
Apostles.  For,  if  we  believe  him,  the  converted  Jews,  namely, 
the  greatest  part  of  the  Church,  there  being  "  so  many  thousands 
of  them,"  J  according  to  St.  James's  testimony,  and  undoubtedly 
its  most  noble  part,  since  it  comprehended  those  on  whom  the 
rest  "were  grafted;"  the  stock  "and  holy  root  whence  the  fat- 
ness of  the  good  olive"§  was  derived  to  the  wild  branches,  were 
Heretics  and  Schismatics,  ||  nay,  guilty  of  a  heresy  of  which  St. 
Paul  has  said,  "it  destroyed  grace,  and  rendered  Christ  of  no 
effect  to  them."1T  The  rest  of  the  Church,  to  wit,  those  who 
came  from  heathenism,  partook  of  the  schism  and  heresy  by 
consenting  to  it,  and  by  acknowledging  those  as  holy  and 
brethren  in  Jesus  Christ,  who  entertained  in  their  minds  so 
strange  a  heresy,  and  in  their  hearts  so  criminal  a  jealousy;  and 
the  Apostles  themselves  were  the  most  heretical  and  schismati- 
cal  of  all,  for  conniving  at  such  crimes  and  errors.  Such  is  the 
idea  he  gives  us  of  the  Christian  Church  under  the  Apostles, 
when  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  was,  as  I  may  say,  still  reeking, 
his  doctrine  fresh  in  their  minds — the  spirit  of  Christianity  in 
its  full  strength.  What  an  opinion  will  the  impious  have  of  the 
Church  in  her  progress,  if  these  so  much  extolled  beginnings 
be  grounded  on  heresy  and  schism;  nay,  if  corruption  even 
reach  to  those  who  had  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit? 

79. — According  to  the  Minister,  one  may  save  himself  even  in  the  Communion 

of  Socinians. 

It  seemed  as  if  our  minister  was  for  excluding  the  Socinians, 
at  least,  from  the  communion  of  God's  people,  he  having  so 
frequently  said,  that  they  impugn  directly  the  fundamental  truths, 
and  that  these  being  subverted,  such  societies  are  dead  and  can 
raise  no  children  to  Almighty  God.  But  all  this  was  nothing 
but  a  false  appearance ;  and  the  minister  would  heartily  despise 
whosoever  should  be  deluded  by  it. 

*  Syst.  1.  i.  ch.  XX.  p.  153.       f  Ibid.  ch.  xiv.,  xxi.  p.  167.      J  Acts  xxi. 
§  Rom.  xi.  17,  &c.         ||  Syst.  Ibid.  ch.  xx.  p.  167.        U  Gal.  v.  2,  4 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  285 

And,  indeed,  the  principal  foundation  of  his  doctrine  is,* 
*'  That  the  word  of  God  is  never  preached  in  any  country  but 
God  makes  it  effectual  with  regard  to  some  people."  As  then, 
very  certainly,  the  word  of  God  is  preached  amongst  the  So- 
cinians,  the  minister  concludes  aright,  according  to  his  princi- 
ples,! "That  if  Socinianism  had  been  as  much  diffused  as  is, 
for  example.  Popery,  God  would  also  have  found  means  of 
feeding  in  it  liis  elect,  and  of  hindering  their  taking  part  in  the 
mortal  heresies  of  that  sect,  as  he  found  means  heretofore  of 
preserving,  in  Arianism,  a  number  of  elect  and  virtuous  souls 
untainted  with  the  Arian  heresy." 

And  if  the  Socinians,  in  the  state  they  are  in  at  present,  can- 
not contain  in  their  body  the  elect  of  God,  it  is  not  on  account 
of  their  pei-verse  doctrine,  but,J  "  for  that  they  being  in  small 
numbers,  and  dispersed  up  and  down  without  making  a  figure 
in  the  world,  and  in  most  places  having  not  so  much  as  an  as- 
sembly, it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  God  saves  any  of 
them."  Nevertheless,  since  it  is  certain  the  Socinians  have 
had  churches  in  Poland,  and  have  at  this  day  in  Transylvania, 
one  might  ask  of  the  minister,  what  is  the  number  requisite  to 
make  a  figure?  But  be  that  as  it  will,  according  to  him  it  de- 
pends only  on  princes  to  give  children  of  God  to  all  societies 
whatsoever,  by  giving  them  assemblies ;  and  if  the  devil  com- 
plete his  work,  if  taking  men  on  that  side  to  which  their  senses 
lean,  and,  by  that  means,  multiply  Socmians  in  the  world,  he 
also  finds  means  of  procuring  them  a  more  free  and  extensive 
exercise  of  their  religion,  he  will  compel  Jesus  Christ  to  form 
his  elect  amongst  them. 

80. — By  the  Minister's  principles,  one  might  be  saved  in  the  exterior  Commu- 
nion of  the  Mahometans  and  Jexos. 

The  minister  will  answer  doubtless,  that  if  he  says,  you  may 
be  saved  in  the  communion  of  Socinians,  it  is  not  by  the  way 
of  toleration,  but  by  that  of  discernment  and  separation;  that  is 
to  say,  it  is  not  by  presupposing  God  tolerates  Socinianism  as 
he  does  other  sects  which  have  preserved  the  foundation,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  by  presupposing  that  these  the  Socinian  asso- 
ciates, discerning  the  good  from  the  evil  in  the  doctrine  of  this 
sect,  will  reject  in  their  hearts  what  is  blasphemous  therein,  al- 
though they  remain  united  therewith  exteriorly. 

But  take  his  answer  which  way  you  will,  it  is  equally  full  of 
impiety.  For  in  the  first  place,  this  makes  him  inconsistent 
with  himself  in  respect  to  the  toleration  of  those  who  deny  the 
divinity  of  the  Son  of  God,  since  he  extends  this  toleration  even 
to  the  Arians  :  "  To  damn,"  says  he,§  "all  those  numberless 

+  Prej.  leg.  pp  4,  5,  &c.  j  Syst.  pp.  147, 149,  &c.  Prej.  leg.  p.  16.  Syst. 
1.  i.  ch.  xii.  pp.  98,  102 ;  ch.  xix.  p.  149,  &c. ;  ch.  xx.  p.  153,  &c.       \  Ibid. 

§  Prej.  p.  22. 


286  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

Christians  who  lived  in  the  external  communion  of  Arianism, 
some  whereof  detested  its  tenets,  others  were  ignorant  of  them, 
some  tolerated  them  in  the  spirit  of  peace,  others  held  their  tongues 
through  fear  and  authority:  to  damn,  I  say,  all  those  people,  is 
the  opinion  of  an  executioner,  and  becoming  the  cruelty  of 
Popery."  In  this  manner  M.  Jurieu  extends  his  mercy,  not  to 
those  only  who  remained  in  the  communion  of  Arians,  being  ig- 
norant of  their  sentiments,  but  to  those  also  who  knew  them ; 
and  not  only  to  those  who,  knowing  and  detesting  them  in  their 
hearts,  did  not  blame  them  through  fear,  but  also  to  those  who 
"  tolerated  them  in  the  spirit  of  peace,"  namely,  to  those  who 
judged  that  denying  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  was  a  tolerable 
doctrine.  What,  then,  hinders  his  tolerating,  in  the  spirit  of 
peace,  even  the  Socinians,  as  he  tolerates  the  rest,  and  extend- 
ing his  charity  so  far  even  as  to  save  them? 

But  although  the  minister  should  repent  himself  of  having 
carried  his  toleration  to  this  excess,  and  would  save  but  those 
only  in  the  Socinian  communion  that  should  heartily  detest  their 
sentiments,  his  doctrine  would  be  nothing  the  better  for  that ; 
since,  in  short,  he  must  always  save  those  who,  conscious  of  the 
Socinian  tenets,  should,  nevertheless,  remain  in  their  external 
communion,  that  is,  frequent  their  assemblies,  join  in  their 
prayers  and  worship,  be  present  at  their  sermons  with  an  exte- 
rior like  to  that  of  others  who  pass  for  men  of  that  communion.^ 
If  this  dissimulation  be  lawful,  no  longer  do  we  know  what  is 
hypocrisy,  nor  what  this  sentence  means,  "  Depart  from  the 
tents  of  the  wicked."* 

Should  now  the  minister  reply,  that  those  who  frequent  the 
Socinian  assemblies  in  this  manner,  ought  so  to  direct  their  in- 
tention as  to  partake  only  of  that  which  is  good  amongst  them, 
namely,  of  the  unity  of  God  and  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
this  is  a  still  greater  absurdity,  since,  in  this  sense,  there  would 
be  likewise  no  difficulty  of  living  in  the  communion  of  Jews  and 
Turks  :  for  you  need  but  persuade  yourself,  you  partake  only 
with  them  in  the  belief  of  God's  unity,  detesting  in  your  heart, 
without  uttering  a  word,  all  they  speak  impiously  against  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  should  it  be  said,  that  it  is  enough  to  incur  damna- 
tion to  make  your  usual  worship  in  an  assembly  where  Jesus 
Christ  is  blasphemed,  the  Socinians,  blasphemers  of  his  divinity 
and  so  many  others  of  his  sacred  truths,  are  no  better  than  they. 

81. — The  succession  which  the  Minister  gives  his  Religion,  is  commmi  to  him 

xoith  all  Heresies. 

Such  are  the  absurdities  of  this  new  system  :  it  was  not  the 

product  of  free  choice,  for  no  man  takes  pleasure  in  making 

himself  ridiculous  by  advancing  such  paradoxes.     But  one  false 

*  Num.  xvi.  26. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  287 

step  draws  on  another ;  nor  would  he  have  plunged  into  this 
excess,  but  for  others  he  had  fallen  into  before.  The  Refor- 
mation had  fallen  into  the  excess  of  separating  herself  not  only 
from  the  Church  in  which  she  had  received  her  baptism,  but  also 
from  all  other  Christian  Churches.  In  this  state,  urged  to 
answer  where  the  Church  was  before  the  time  of  these  Re- 
formers, she  could  not  keep  to  one  constant  language,  and  ini- 
quity gave  herself  the  lie.  At  last,  quite  nonplused,  and  little 
satisfied  with  all  the  answers  hitherto  made  in  our  days,  she 
thought  to  extricate  herself  by  saying,*  it  is  not  of  particular 
societies,  of  Lutherans,  of  Calvinists,  you  should  ask  for  the 
visible  succession  of  their  doctrine  and  pastors ;  it  being  true, 
"  they  were  not  as  yet  formed  two  hundred  years  ago  ;"  grant- 
ing this,  yet  the  universal  Church,  whereof  these  sects  make 
a  part,  was  visible  in  the  communions  of  which  Christianity  was 
composed,  viz.  that  of  the  Grecians,  of  the  Abyssinians,  of  the 
Armenians,  and  Latins,  which  is  all  the  succession  there  is  oc- 
casion for.  Here  is  the  last  refuge  ;  this  their  whole  solution. 
But  all  kinds  of  sects,  they  must  allow,  may  say  the'  same. 
There  is  not  any,  nor  ever  was,  to  take  in  each  of  them  no  more 
than  the  common  profession  of  Christianity,  which  does  not  find 
its  particular  succession  as  our  minister  has  found  his  ;  so  that, 
to  give  a  descent  and  an  always  visible  perpetuity  to  his  Church, 
he  was  forced  to  lavish  the  same  favor  on  the  most  novel  and 
impious  societies. 

82. — The  Minister  at  the  same  time  speaks  pro  and  con  ivith  relation  to  the 
perpetual  Visibility  of  the  Church. 

The  greatest  offence  that  can  be  done  to  truth  is,  to  know  it, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  abandon  or  undermine  it.  M.  Jurieu 
has  owned  great  truths  :  in  the  first  place,  "  that  the  Church  is 
taken  in  Scripture  for  a  society  always  visible  ;  nay,  I  go,  "  says 
he,  "  further  on  this  head  than  M.  de  Maux."|  With  all  my 
heart ;  what  I  had  said  was  sufficient ;  but  since  he  will  allow 
us  more,  I  receive  it  from  him. 

Secondly,  he  agrees  that  it  cannot  be  denied  "  that  the  Church, 
which  the  Creed  obhges  us  to  believe  is  a  visible  Church. "J 

This  was  enough  to  demonstrate  the  perpetual  visibility  of 
the  Church,  because  that,  which  is  beheved  in  the  Creed,  is 
eternally  and  unalterably  true.  But  in  order  that  there  may  be 
no  doubt  that  this  article  of  our  faith  is  grounded  on  the  express 
promises  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  minister  grants  us  moreover,  that 
the  Church  to  which  Jesus  Christ  had  promised  that  hell  should 
not  prevail  against  her,  was§  "  a  confessing  Church,  a  Church 
which  published  the  faith  with  St.  Peter,  a  Church,  by  conse- 

*  Syst.  I.  i.  ch.  xxix.  p.  226. ;  1.  iii.  ch.  xvii.      f  Syst  p.  215.     J  Ibid.  p.  217. 

§Ibid.  p.  215. 


288  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

quence,  always  exterior  and  visible  ;"  which  he  carries  so  far 
as  to  declare,  without  hesitation,*  "  that  he,  who  should  have 
the  faith  without  the  profession  of  the  faith,  would  not  be  of  the 
Church." 

It  is  this  also  that  makes  him  say,|  "  it  is  essential  to  the 
Christian  Church  to  have  a  ministry."  Equally  with  M.  Claude, 
he  approves  J  of  our  inferring  from  these  words  of  our  Saviour, 
teach,  baptize,  and  lo  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end 
of  the  world  ;§  "that  there  will  be  teachers  with  whom  Jesus 
Christ  shall  teach,  and  that  true  preaching  never  shall  cease  in 
the  Church."  He  says  as  much  of  the  sacraments,  and  is 
agreed,  II  "  that  the  band  of  Christians,  by  means  of  the  sacra- 
ments, is  essential  to  the  Church ;  that  there  is  no  true  Church 
without  the  sacraments  ;"  whence  he  concludes,  that  it  is  neces- 
sary "  to  have  the  essence"  and  foundation,  to  be  members  of 
the  body  of  the  Church. 

From  all  these  express  passages,  the  minister  concludes  with 
us,  that  the  Church  is  always  visible,  necessarily  visible,  and, 
what  is  more  remarkable,  visible  not  only  as  to  its  body,  but 
also  as  to  its  soul,  as  he  terms  it,  because,  says  he, IT  "  when  I 
see  Christian  societies,  wherein  doctrine  conformable  to  the 
word  of  God  is  preserved  as  much  as  is  necessary  for  the  es- 
sence of  a  Church,  1  know  and  see  for  certain,  that  there  are 
elect  in  it,  since,  wherever  are  the  fundamental  truths,  they  are 
salutary  to  some  people." 

After  this  chain  of  doctrine,  which  the  minister  confirms  by 
so  many  express  passages,  one  might  think  nothing  could  be 
better  settled  in  his  mind,  from  Scripture,  from  the  promises  of 
Jesus  Christ,  from  the  Creed  of  the  Apostles,  than  the  perpetual 
visibility  of  the  Church  ;  and  yet  he  says  the  contrary,  not  by 
consequence,  but  in  formal  terms  ;  for  he  says,  at  the  same 
time,**  "  that  this  perpetual  visibility  of  the  Church  is  not  to  be 
found  by  those  proofs  which  are  called  of  right,"  that  is,  by 
Scripture,  as  he  explains  it,  "  otherwise  than  by  supposing  that 
God  always  preserves  to  himself  a  hidden  number  of  the  faith- 
ful, a  Church,  as  one  may  say,  subterraneous  and  unknown  to 
the  whole  earth,  which  would  be  as  well  the  body  of  Jesus 
Christ,  his  spouse  and  his  kingdom,  as  a  known  Church ;  and, 
in  fine,  that  the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ  would  remain  invio- 
late, though  the  Church  should  have  fallen  into  so  great  an  ob- 
scurity, as  that  it  were  impossible  to  point  out  and  say,  there  is 
the  true  Church,  and  there  does  God  preserve  the  elect." 

What,  then,  becomes  of  that  express  acknowledgment,  that 

*  Syst.  p.  2.  I  L.  iii.  ch.  xv.  p.  549,  &c.  t  Ibid.  pp.  228,  229. 

§  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20.  ||  Syst.  pp.  .'i39,  548.  IT  Prej.  leg.  ch.  ii.  pp.  21, 
22,  &c.  Syst.  p.  221.  **  Prej.  leg.  pp.  21,  22,  &c.  Syst.  p.  221. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  289 

the  Church  in  the  Scripture  is  always  visible  ;  that  the  promises 
she  has  received  from  Jesus  Christ,  for  her  perpetual  duration, 
are  addressed  to  a  visible  Church,  to  a  Church  that  publishes 
her  faith,  to  a  Church  which  has  the  keys  and  a  ministry,  to 
whom  the  ministry  is  essential,  and  which  no  longer  is  a  Church, 
if  the  profession  of  faith  be  wanting  to  herl  This  we  are  at  a 
loss  to  know ;  the  minister  thinks  he  salves  all  by  telling  us, 
that,  for  his  part,*  he  truly  believes  the  Church  always  visible, 
and  that  she  hath  been  ever  so,  may  be  proved  from  history. 
Who  does  not  see  what  he  aims  atl  Namely,  in  a  word,  that 
in  case  it  happens  a  Protestant  should  be  forced  to  own,  accord- 
ing to  his  belief,  that  the  Church  had  ceased  to  be  visible,  at  most 
he  would  only  have  denied  a  fact, yet  not  overthrown  the  promises 
of  Jesus  Christ.  But  this  is  putting  us  on  the  wrong  scent  in  too 
gross  a  manner.  The  question  in  hand  is  not  whether  the  Church, 
by  good  luck,  has  always  remained  to  this  day  in  her  visibility,  but 
whether  she  has  promises  of  continuing  for  ever  in  it ;  nor,  whether 
M.  Jurieu  believes  it,  but  whether  M.  Jurieu  has  written  that  all 
Christians  are  obliged  to  believe  it  as  a  truth  from  God,  and  as 
a  fundamental  article  couched  in  the  Creed.  Most  certainly 
he  has  written  it,  as  we  have  seen ;  and  he  goes  on  demon- 
strating, that  the  question  touching  the  Church  involves  the 
ministers  in  such  a  disorder,  that  they  know  not  which  way  to 
turn  themselves  ;  and  if  they  can  but  meet  with  an  evasion,  it 
is  all  they  aim  at. 

83. — Vain  distinction  betioeen  errors. 

But  not  one  is  left  them,  provided  they  follow  but  never  so 
little  the  principles  which  they  have  granted  ;  for,  if  the  Church 
be  visible  and  always  visible  by  the  confession  of  the  truth ;  if 
Jesus  Christ  has  promised  she  would  be  so  eternally,  it  is 
clearer  than  day  that  it  is  not  allowable  to  depart  one  moment 
from  her  doctrine,  which  is  saying,  in  other  words,  that  she  is 
infallible.  The  consequence  is  very  plain ;  since,  departing 
from  the  doctrine  of  her  who  always  teaches  truth,  would  be  too 
manifestly  declaring  enmity  to  truth  itself;  agaiuf  nothing  can 
be  more  clear  and  distinct  than  this. 

Let  us  consider,  nevertheless,  what  method  the  ministers 
have  used  to  ward  off  this  stroke.  Jesus  Christ  has  promised, 
say  they,  a  perpetual  ministry,  yet  not  a  ministry  always  pure  ; 
the  essence  of  the  ministry  shall  subsist  in  the  Church,  because 
the  foundations  will  be  retained  ;  but  what  shall  be  added  to 
these,  will  corrupt  it,  which  makes  M.  Claude  to  say,|  that  the 
ministry  will  never  come  to  a  subtraction  of  a  fundamental 
truth,  such  as  is  seen,  for  example,  in  Socinianism,  which  rejects 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ ;  but  there  is  not  a  like  inconveni- 
+  Syst  p.  125.  Prej.  p.  22.       f  Rep.  an  disc,  de  M.  de  Cond.  p.  383,  et  seq. 

VOL.  II.  25 


290  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

ence  in  corrupting,  by  addition,  wholesome  truths,  as  the  Church 
of  Rome  has  done,  because  the  fundamentals  of  salvation  still 
subsist. 

Pursuant  to  the  same  principles,  M.  Jurieu  agrees,*  "  that 
Jesus  Christ  has  promised  there  always  shall  be  teachers  with 
whom  he  will  teach,  so  far  that  true  preaching  shall  never  cease 
in  his  Church ;"  but  he  distinguishes  :  there  always  shall  be 
teachers  with  whom  Jesus  Christ  will  teach  the  fundamental 
truths,  he  grants  it ;  but  that  there  never  shall  be  errors  in  this 
ministry,  he  denies  it  :t  so,  "  true  preaching  shall  never  cease 
in  the  Church  ;  we  own  it,"  answers  he,  "  if  by  true  preaching 
be  understood  a  preaching  which  announces  the  essential  and 
fundamental  verities  ;  but  we  deny  it,  if  by  true  preaching  a 
doctrine  be  understood  that  contains  no  kind  of  errors. 

84. — Ji  single  word  destroys  these  subtilties. 

To  dispel  all  these  mists,  nothing  more  is  necessary  than  to 
ask  these  men,  where  it  is  they  have  learned  to  put  a  restriction 
on  the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ  1  He  that  is  able  to  prevent 
subtractions,  why  must  he  not  be  able  to  prevent  dangerous  ad- 
ditions ?  What  certainty,  therefore,  have  they,  that  preaching 
shall  be  more  pure,  the  ministry  more  privileged  with  regard  to 
subtraction,  than  to  addition  1  This  word,  "  I  am  with  you,"J 
implies  an  universal  protection  to  those  with  whom  Jesus  Christ 
does  teach.  If  the  duration  of  the  external  and  visible  ministry  be 
the  work  of  man,  it  may  fail  equally  on  all  sides;  if,  on  account 
of  the  intervention  of  Jesus  Christ,  pursuant  to  his  promises, 
we  are  assured  that  subtraction  has  never  taken  place  therein, 
no  longer  do  we  comprehend  how  addition  can  find  admittance. 

85. — Strange  way  of  securing  the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  assuredly  it  is  impossible,  agreeing  as  they  do,  that 
Jesus  Christ  has  promised  his  Church  that  the  truth  should  al- 
ways be  taught  in  her,  and  that  he  would  eternally  abide  with 
the  Ministers  of  this  same  Church,  in  order  to  teach  with  them; 
it  is,  I  say,  impossible  he  should  not  have  meant  to  say,  that 
the  truth  he  promised  to  preserve  in  her  should  be  pure,  and 
such  as  revealed  by  him  ;  there  being  nothing  more  ridiculous 
than  to  make  him  promise  he  would  always  teach  the  truth  with 
such  as,  retaining  a  foundation  of  it,  were  to  overwhelm  this 
foundation,  nay  destroy  it,  as  is  supposed,  with  their  errors,  by 
the  inevitable  consequence  of  their  doctrine. 

And,  in  reality,  I  leave  the  Protestants  to  judge  whether  these 
magnificent  promises  of  rendering  the  Church  immovable  in  the 
visible  profession  of  the  truth  be  fultilled  in  the  state,  which  the 
Minister  has  represented  to  us  by  these  words  :§ — "  We  say  that 

*  Syst.  pp.  228,  229.         f  Ibid.  J  Matt,  xxviii.  20.     §  Prej.  leg.  p.  21. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  291 

the  Church  is  perpetually  visible  ;  but  the  greatest  part  of  the 
time,  and  almost  always,  she  is  more  visible  by  the  corruption  of 
her  manners,  by  the  addition  of  mnny  false  tenets,  by  the  decay 
of  her  ministry,  by  her  errors  and  her  superstitions,  than  by  the 
truths  she  does  preserve."  If  such  be  the  visibility  which  Christ 
has  promised  to  his  Church,  if  it  be  thus  he  promises,*  that  the 
truth,  shall  always  be  taught  in  her,  there  is  no  sect,  though  never 
so  impious,  which  may  not  glory  that  the  promise  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  fultilled  in  her  :  and  if  Jesus  Christ  only  promises  to  teach 
with  all  those  that  shall  teach  some  truth,  whatever  error  may  be 
interwoven  with  it,  he  promises  nothing  more  to  his  Church  than 
to  the  Socinians,  to  the  Deists,  to  Atheists  themselves,  since 
none  of  them  are  gone  so  far  astray  as  not  to  retain  some  rem- 
nant of  the  truth. 

86. — The  Minister  says  that  the  Universal  Church  teaches,  and  at  the  same  time 

does  not  teach. 

It  is  now  easy  to  understand  what  we  have  inculcated  so  fre- 
quently, that  the  article  of  the  creed,  "  I  believe  the  Catholic 
and  Universal  Church,"  imports  necessarily  the  belief  of  her 
infallibility,  and  that  there  is  no  difference  between  believing  the 
Catholic  Church  and  believing  in  the  Catholic  Church,  to  wit, 
by  approving  and  assenting  to  her  doctrine.  The  Minister  rises 
up  with  contempt  against  this  reasoning  of  M.  de  Meaux,  and 
opposes  it  by  two  answers  :|  the  first  is,  that  the  Universal 
Church  teaches  nothing  ;  the  second,  that,  supposing  she  taught 
the  truth,  it  would  not  follow  that  she  taught  it  entirely  pure. 
But  he  contradicts  himself  in  these  two  answers  :  in  the  first, 
in  express  terms,  as  I  am  going  to  show ;  in  the  second, 
by  the  evident  consequence  of  his  principles,  as  will  be  shown 
hereafter.  Let  us,  then,  observe  how  he  speaks  in  his  first 
answer.  "  The  Universal  Church,"  says  he,J  "  mentioned  in  the 
Creed  cannot,  properly  speaking,  either  teach  or  preach  the 
truth  :"  and  I  prove  to  him  the  contrary  by  his  own  words,  he 
having  said,  but  two  pages  before,  that  the  Church  to  which  Jesus 
Christ  promises  an  eternal  subsistence,  by  saying  "the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  her,  is  a  confessing  Church,  a 
Church  that  pubhshes  her  faith  :"§  now  this  Church  is,  undoubt- 
edly, the  Universal  Church,  and  the  same  that  the  Creed  speaks 
of;  therefore  the  Universal  Church,  of  which  mention  is  made 
in  the  Creed,  confesses  and  publishes  the  truth ;  nor  can  it  any 
longer  be  denied  by  this  Minister,  without  giving  himself  the 
lie,  but  that  Church  does  confess,  does  preach  the  truth,  unless 
publishing  and  confessing  be  different  from  preaching  to  the 
whole  universe. 

+  Matt  xvi.  18.  t  Syst.  1.  i.  ch.  xxvi.  pp.  217,  218. 

t  Ibid.  p.  218.  §  Ibid.  p.  215. 


292  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

87. — Sequel  of  the  contradictions  of  the  Minister  on  this  subject,  that  the  Uni- 
versal Church  teaches  mid  judges. 

But  let  us  dive  farther  into  this  ??Iinister's  sentiments  on  this 
important  subject.  What  he  most  repeats,  what  he  most  insists 
upon  in  his  system  is,  "  that  the  Universal  Church  teaches  noth- 
ing, decides  nothing,  has  never  passed,  nor  will  ever  pass,  nor 
will  be  able  ever  to  pass,  any  judgment ;  and  that  to  teach,  to 
decide,  to  judge,  is  the  property  of  particular  Churches."  But 
this  doctrine  is  so  false,  that,  to  see  it  convicted  of  error,  no 
more  is  requisite  than  to  continue  on  the  reading  of  those  places 
where  it  is  a:-serte4.;  for  there  you  will  find,*  that  "  the  subsist- 
ing communions,  and  those  which  make  a  figure,  are  the  Greeks, 
the  Latins,  the  Protestants,  the  Abyssinians,  the  Armenians,  the 
Nestorians,  the  Russians.  I  say  that  the  consent  of  all  these 
communions  in  teachmg  certain  verities,  is  a  kind  of  judgment, 
nay,  of  infallible  judgmenU^  These  communions,  therefore, 
teach  ;  and  seeing  these  communions,  according  to  him,  are  the 
Universal  Church,  he  cannot  deny  that  the  Universal  Church 
does  teach ;  no  more  can  he  deny  that  she  judges  in  a  certain 
sense,  since  he  attributes  to  her  a  kind  of  judgment,  which  can 
be  nothing  less  than  a  sentiment  declared.  Here  is,  then,  by 
the  confession  of  the  Minister,  a  declared  sentiment,  and,  more- 
over, an  infallible  sentiment  of  the  Church  he  calls  universal. 

88. — By  the  Confession  of  the  Minister,  the  sentiment  of  the  Church  is  a  certain 
rule  of  Faith  in  the  most  essential  matters. 

He  proceeds  : — "  When  the  consent  of  the  Universal  Church 
is  general  in  all  ages  as  well  as  in  all  communions,  then  I  main- 
tain that  this  unanimous  consent  makes  a  demonstration."  This 
is  not  enough  ;  this  demonstration  is  grounded  on  the  perpetual 
assistance  which,  according  to  him,  God  owes  his  Church : 
"  God,"  says  he,"!"  "  can?iot permit  great  Christian  societies  to  be 
engaged  in  uiortal  errors,  nor  to  persevere  in  them  a  long  while." 
And,  a  little  after,  "  is  it  likely  that  God  should  so  far  have  aban- 
doned the  Universal  Church,  that  all  communions,  in  all  ages, 
should  have  unanimously  renounced  the  most  important  truths  ?" 

Thence  it  clearly  follows  that  the  sentiment  of  the  Universal 
Church  is  a  certain  rule  of  faith,  and  the  Minister  makes  the 
application  of  it  to  the  two  most  important  disputes,  which,  in 
his  own  judgment,  possibly  can  arise  among  Christians.  The 
first  is  that  of  the  Socinians,  which  comprehends  so  many  essen- 
tial points  ;  and,  thereupon,  "  the  presumption  of  the  Socinians," 
says  hej,  "  cannot  be  considered  otherwise  than  as  a  prodigious 
temerity  and  a  certain  token  of  reprobation ;  for  that,  in  the 
articles  of  Jesus  Christ's  divinity,  the  trinity  of  persons,  the  re- 
demption, satisfaction,  original  sin,  the  creation,  grace,  immor- 

*  Syst.  pp.  6,  218,  233,  234,  235,  236.  f  Syst.  p.  237,  J  Ibid. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  293 

tality  of  the  soul,  and  eternity  of  torments,  they  have  departed 
from  the  sentiment  of  the  whole  Universal  Church."*  Again, 
therefore,  this  Universal  Church  has  a  sentiment :  her  senti- 
ment carries  along  with  it  an  infallible  condemnation  of  the 
errors  opposite  thereunto,  and  serves  as  a  rule  for  the  decision 
of  all  the  aforesaid  articles. 

89. — This  rule,  according  to  the  Minister,  is  sure,  clear,  sufficient,  and  the  Faith 
it  produces  is  not  blind  nor  unreasonable. 

Besides  this,  there  is  another  subject  wherein  this  sentiment 
stands  for  a  rule  :  "  I  believe  that  it  is  here  also  the  most  sure 
rule  of  judging  which  points  are  fundamental,  and  of  distinguish- 
ing them  from  such  as  are  not ;  so  knotty,  so  difficult  a  question 
to  resolve  !  Thus,  all  that  Christians  have  unanimously  believed, 
and  do  still  everywhere  believe,  is  fundamental  and  necessary 
to  salvation." 

This  rule  is  not  only  certain  and  clear,  but  also  fully  sufficient ; 
since  the  Minister,  after  having  said  that  the  discussion  of  texts, 
of  versions,  of  interpretations  of  Scripture,  and  even  the  reading 
of  this  divine  book,  is  not  necessary  to  the  believer  in  order  to 
form  his  faith,  concludes  at  last,|  that  "  a  simple  woman,  who 
has  learnt  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  understood  it  in  the  sense  of 
the  Universal  Church  (withal  keeping  God's  commandments,) 
shall  be,  perhaps,  in  a  more  sure  way  than  the  learned,  who,  with 
so  much  ability,  contend  about  the  difference  of  versions." 

There  must  be,  therefore,  an  easy  method  of  discovering  what 
is  believed  by  the  Universal  Church,  since  this  discovery  is 
within  the  reach  of  a  simple  woman.  There  is  a  security  in  this 
knowledge  so  discovered,  since  this  simple  woman  relies  upon 
and  trusts  to  it  ;  lastly,  there  is  an  entire  sufficiency,  since  this 
woman  has  nothing  to  seek  further,  and,  fully  instructed  in  her 
faith,  needs  no  otherwise  to  be  concerned  than  how  to  live  well. 
This  belief  is  neither  blind  nor  unreasonable,  since  it  is  founded 
on  clear  and  sure  principles  ;  and  in  reality,  when  one  is  weak, 
as  we  all  are,  it  is  the  most  excellent  pitch  of  reason  to  know 
well  whom  you  may  rely  upon. 

90. — It  can  be  no  longer  objected  to  ^is,  that  by  following  the  authority  of  the 

Church  tcefolloio  men. 

But  let  us  push  on  this  argument  still  further.  That  which 
makes  an  absolute  certainty  in  matter  of  faith,  a  certainty  of  de- 
monstration, and  the  best  rule  to  decide  truths  by,  must  be  clearly 
grounded  on  the  word  of  God.  Now,  this  kind  of  infallibility, 
which  the  Minister  attributes  to  the  Universal  Church,  imports 
a  certainty  absolute,  and  a  certainty  of  demonstration,  and  it  is 
the  most  sure  rule  whereby  to  decide  the  most  essential,  and 

+  Syst.  p.  237.  t  Syst  1.  iii.  ch.  iv.  p.  463. 

VOL.  II.  '        25  * 


294  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

withal  the  most  knotty  truths  :  therefore,  it  is  clearly  grounded 

on  the  word  of  God. 

For  the  future,  therefore,  when  we  shall  urge  the  Protestants 

with  the  authority  of  the  Universal  Church,  should  they  object 

to  us,  that  we  follow  the  authority  and  traditions  of  men  ;  their 

Minister  will  confound  them  by  saying,  with  us,  that  following 

the  Universal  Church  is  not  following  men,  but  God  himself, 

who  assists  her  by  his  spirit. 

91. — The  idea  lohich  the  Minister  forms  to  himself  of  the  Universal  Church  us 
he  conceives  it,  is  not  agreeable  with  the  sentiments  of  the  Universal  Chnrch. 

If  the  Minister  should  answer,  that  we  get  nothing  by  this 
acknowledgment,  because  the  Church,  wherein  he  owns  this 
infallibility,  is  not  ours,  and  that  all  Christian  communions  enter 
into  the  notion  which  he  gives  of  the  Church :  he  will  be  no 
less  confounded  by  his  own  principles,  since  he  has  but  just 
placed  among  the  conditions  of  the  true  faith,  that  the  Creed  be 
understood  "  in  the  sense  of  the  Universal  Church."  We 
must  therefore  understand,  in  this  sense,  that  article  of  the 
Creed,  which  speaks  of  the  Universal  Church  herself.  Now 
the  Universal  Church  never  has  beheved,  that  the  Universal 
Church  was  the  ao-greorate  of  all  Christian  sects  :  nor  does  the 
Minister  find  this  notion  in  all  places,  or  all  times;*  on  the 
contrary,  he  is  agreed  that  the  notion  which  reduces  the  Church 
to  a  perfect  unity,  by  excluding  all  sects  from  her  communion, 
is  of  all  ages,  even  of  the  three  first :  he  has  seen  it  in  the  two 
councils  whose  creeds  he  receives,  namely,  in  that  of  Nice,  and 
in  that  of  Constantinople.  It  is  not,  therefore,  in  his  sense, 
but  in  ours,  that  the  simple  woman,  whom  he  makes  to  walk  so 
surely  in  the  way  of  salvation,  ought  to  understand  these  words 
in  the  Creed,  "the  Catholic  or  Universal  Church;"  and  when 
this  good  woman  says,  she  believes  therein,  she  is  obliged  to 
fix  upon  one  certain  communion,  which  God  shall  have  distin- 
guished from  all  the  rest,  and  which  contains  in  her  unity  none 
but  the  orthodox  :  a  conmiunion  which  must  be  the  true  king- 
dom of  Christ  Jesus  perfectly  united  in  itself,  and  opposite  to 
the  kingdom  of  Satan, |  whose  character,  as  before  observed,  is 
disunion. 

92. — The  Minister  condemns  his  Church  by  the  characteristics  ascribed  hxj  him 
to  the  Universal  Church. 

Should  the  Minister  think  to  escape  by  answering  that,  sup- 
posing we  had  proved  a  communion  of  this  nature,  we  had  done 
nothing  as  yet,  since  it  still  remained  to  be  proved  that  this  is 
our  communion ;  I  own,  before  we  come  to  that,  there  are  still 
some  steps  to  be  taken  :  but,  in  the  meanwhile,  and  before  we 
do  this,  and  force  the  Minister,  according  to  his  principles,  to 

+  See  Sect  71,  of  this  Book,  et  seq.  f  Luke  xi.  17. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  295 

take  these  steps  with  us  ;  we  find  already  in  his  principles, 
whereby  to  reject  his  Church.  For  when  he  gave  us  for  a  rule 
that  which  the  Universal  Church  unanimously  believes  every- 
where :  lest  he  should  comprehend  the  Socinians  in  this  Uni- 
versal Church,  whose  authority  he  opposed  against  them,  he 
reduced  this  Church  to  "  communions  which  are  ancient  and 
extensive,"*  exclusively  of  sects  which  have  neither  of  these 
advantages,  and  which,  "  for  this  reason,  could  neither  be  called 
communions,  nor  Christian  communions."  Here  are  then  two 
great  characteristics,  which,  according  to  him,  a  communion 
ought  to  have  to  merit  the  denomination  of  Christian,  antiquity 
and  extent :  now  it  is  very  certain,  that  the  Churches  of  the 
Reformation  were  not,  at  the  beginning,  either  ancient  or  ex- 
tensive, no  more  than  those  of  the  Socinians  and  others  which 
the  Minister  rejects  ;  therefore,  they  were  neither  "  Churches 
nor  communions  :"  but  if  they  were  not  so  then,  they  could  not 
become  so  afterwards  :  therefore,  they  are  not  so  now,  nor  can 
one,  consistently  with  the  Minister's  rules,  too  speedily  forsake 
them. 

93. — All  the  Minister''s  means  for  defending  his  Churches  are  common  to  them 
with  those  of  the  Socinians  and  of  other  Sectaries  rejected  by  the  Refor- 
mation. 

It  serves  no  purpose  to  answer,  that  these  Churches  had  their 
predecessors  in  those  great  societies  which  were  antecedent  to 
them,  and  which  preserved  the  fundamental  verities  ;  for  it  suits 
only  with  the  Socinians  to  say  as  much.  The  minister  urges  them 
in  vain  with  these  words,|  "  Let  these  men  name  us  a  commu- 
nion which  has  taught  their  dogma.  To  find  out  the  succession 
of  their  doctrine,  they  begin  by  a  Cerinthus  ;  they  continue  by 
an  Artemon,  by  a  Paul  of  Samosata,  by  a  Photinus,  and  other 
such  like  men,  who  never  had  an  assembly  of  four  thousand 
people,  who  never  had  a  communion,  and  who  were  the  abomi- 
nation of  the  whole  Church."  When  the  Minister  urges  them 
thus,  he  is  right  in  the  main,  but  he  is  not  right  according  to  his 
principles,  because  the  Socinians  will  always  tell  him,  that  the 
only  fundamental  point  of  salvation  is  to  believe  one  only  God, 
and  one  only  mediator,  Christ ;  that  it  is  the  unity  of  these 
tenets,  which  all  the  world  agrees  in,  that  makes  the  Church's 
unity  ;  that  the  superadded  tenets  may,  indeed,  make  particular 
confederations,  but  not  another  body  of  the  Church  universal ; 
that  their  faith  had  subsisted,  and  does  still  subsist  in  all  Chris- 
tian societies  ;  that  they  can  live  amongst  the  Calvinists,  as  the 
pretended  elect  of  the  Calvinists  hved,  before  Calvin,  in  the 
Church  of  Piome  ;  that  they  are  no  more  obliged  to  show,  nor 
to  reckon  their  predecessors,  than  the  Lutherans  or  Calvinists ; 
*  Syst.  1.  ii.  ch.  i.  p.  238.  t  Ihid. 


296  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

that  it  is  not  true,  they  were  "  the  abomination  of  the  whole 
Chuich  ;"  since,  besides  their  being  a  part  thereof,  the  whole 
Church  never  had  the  power  of  assembling  herself  against  them  ; 
the  whole  Church  "  teaches  nothing,  decides  nothing,"  detests 
nothing  ;  that  all  these  functions  appertain  only  to  paritcular 
Churches  ;  that  he  is  in  the  wrong  to  find  fault  with  them  for 
clandestinity,  or  rather  for  the  nullity  of  their  assemblies ;  that 
those  of  the  Lutherans  or  Calvinists  at  the  beginning  were  in  no 
resp-^ct  different ;  that,  after  their  example,  they  meet  together 
when  able,  and  where  they  have  the  liberty  :  which  if  others 
have  extorted  by  bloody  wars,  their  cause  is  never  the  better  for 
that ;  and  to  annex  salvation  to  such  favor  or  toleration,  how- 
soev'jr  obtained  from  prince  or  magistrate,  whether  by  negotia- 
tion or  force,  is  making  Christianity  to  depend  on  policy. 
94. — Mndgment  of  the  foregoing  arguments. 
The  Minister  having  taken  these  great  steps,  by  never  so  lit- 
tle reflection  upon  his  own  principles,  would  soon  join  issue  with 
us.  The  sentiment  of  the  universal  Church  is  a  rule  ;  it  is  a 
certain  rule  against  the  Socinians :  therefore,  an  universal 
Church  must  be  shown  in  which  the  Socinians  are  not  compre- 
henc'.ed.  What  excludes  them  from  it  is  the  want  of  "  extent 
or  succession  :"  a  succession,  therefore,  must  be  pointed  out 
to  t'iem,  which  they  cannot  meet  with  amongst  themselves  : 
now  they  meet  evidently  with  the  same  succession  that  Calvin- 
ists boast  of;  namely,  a  succession  in  the  principles  which  are 
common  to  them  with  other  sects  ;  it  is  necessary,  therefore, 
they  should  find  out  another  ;  it  is  necessary,  I  say,  that  you 
should  find  a  succession  in  the  tenets  peculiar  to  that  sect 
whose  antiquity  you  would  establish.  Now  this  succession 
agrees  not  with  Calvinists,  who,  in  their  peculiar  tenets,  have 
no  more  succession,  nor  antiquity,  than  the  Socinians  :  you 
must,  therefore,  go  forth  from  theirs  as  well  as  from  the  So- 
cinian  Church  :  you  must,  therefore,  be  able  to  find  out  a  better 
anti(juity  and  succession  than  either  of  theirs.  Finding  this 
antiquity  and  this  succession,  you  will  have  found  the  certainty 
of  faith  :  all,  therefore,  you  will  have  to  do  is,  to  rely  on  the 
sentiments  of  the  Church,  and  on  her  authority ;  and  what  is 
all  this  else,  I  pray,  but  owning  the  Church  infallible?  This 
Minister  leads  us  then  by  a  sure  way  to  the  infallibility  of  the 
Chu'-ch. 

95. — There  is  no  restriction  xoith  respect  to  Dogmas  in  the  Church's  Infallir' 

bility. 

I  am  sensible  he  lays  a  restriction.  *'  The  universal  Church," 
says  he,*  "  is  infallible  to  a  certain  degree,  as  far  as  those 
bounds  which  divide  fundamental  truths  from  those  which  are 

♦  P.  236. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  297 

not  so."  But  we  have  already  made  it  plain  that  this  restric- 
tion is  arbitrary.  God  hath  not  declared  to  us  that  he  ever 
confined  within  these  bounds  the  assistance  which  he  promised 
to  his  Church,  nor  that  he  designed  to  hmit  his  promises  at  the 
v/ill  of  ministers.  He  gives  his  Holy  Ghost,  not  to  teach  some 
truth,  but  to  teach  "  all  truth,"*  because  he  has  revealed  none 
but  such  as  is  useful  and  necessary  in  certain  cases.  Never, 
therefore,  will  he  permit  any  one  of  these  truths  to  be  extin- 
guished in  the  body  of  the  universal  Church. 

96. — What  is  once  believed  in  the  whole  Church,  loas  always  believed  in  it. 

Wherefore,  whatsoever  doctrine  I  shall  show  to  have  been 
once  universally  received,  the  minister  must  receive  it  accord- 
ing to  his  principles ;  and  should  he  think  to  escape  by  answer- 
ing that  this  doctrine,  for  instance,  transubstantiation,  the 
sacrifice,  invocation  of  saints,  veneration  of  images,  and  such 
like  points,  are  indeed  to  be  found  in  all  the  Oriental  comm.u- 
nions  no  less  than  in  the  Western  Church,  but  yet  were  not  al- 
ways there,  and  that  it  is  in  this  perpetuity  that  he  has  placed 
the  stress  of  his  proof  and  the  infallibility  of  the  universal 
Church  :  he  must  have  misunderstood  himself,  because  he  could 
not  have  believed  in  the  Church  universal,  a  perpetual  assist- 
ance of  the  Holy  Ghost,  without  comprehending,  in  this  ac- 
knowledgment, not  only  all  times  together,  but  also  each  time 
in  particular  :  this  perpetuity  including  them  all :  from  whence 
it  follows  that,  throughout  the  whole  duration  of  the  Church,  he 
will  never  be  able  to  point  out  a  time,  when  the  error  prevails 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  bound  himself  to  preserve  her  from. 
Now  it  has  been  seen,  the  Holy  Ghost  has  equally  bound  him- 
self to  preserve  her  from  all  error,  nor  from  one  more  than 
another ;  therefore  there  never  can  be  any. 

97. — The  Catholic  alone  believes  in  the  promises. 

What  makes  our  adversaries  stop  at  this,  is  their  having 
nothing  but  a  human  and  a  wavering  faith.  But  the  Catholic, 
whose  faith  is  divine  and  firm,  will  say  without  hesitating  :  if 
the  Holy  Ghost  has  promised  his  universal  Church  to  assist  her 
indefinitely  against  errors,  therefore  against  all :  and  if  against 
all,  therefore  always :  and  as  often  as  one  shall  find,  in  any 
certain  time,  a  doctrine  established  in  the  whole  Catholic 
Church,  such  can  never  be  impeached  of  novelty,  but  by  eiror. 

98. — The  Minister  can  no  longer  deny  the  Infallibility  which  he  has  confessed. 
We  press  him  too  much,  will  he  say,  and  at  last  shall  force 
him  to  forsake  his  principles  of  the  infallibility  of  the  universal 
Church.  God  forbid  he  should  forsake  so  true  a  principle,  or 
that  he  should  fall  back  into  all  the  absurdiUes  he  sought  to 

*  John  xvi.  13. 


298  THE  HISTORY  OP  [book 

avoid  by  establishing  it ;  for  then  his  case  would  be  that  men- 
tioned by  St.  Paul,  "  If  I  build  again  the  things  which  I  de- 
stroyed, I  make  myself  a  prevaricator."*  But  since  he  has 
begun  to  take  so  wholesome  a  medicine,  he  must  be  made  to 
follow  it  to  the  last  drop,  however  bitter  it  may  seem  at  present ; 
that  is,  he  must  be  shown  all  the  necessary  consequences  of 
that  truth  which  he  has  once  acknowledged. 

99. — The  infallibility  of  general  Coxmcils  a  consequence  from  the  infallibilily 

of  the  Church. 

He  puzzles  himself  about  the  infallibility  of  universal  coun- 
cils :  but  in  the  first  place,  supposing  there  were  no  councils, 
the  minister  is  agreed  that  the  consent  of  the  Church,  even  with- 
out being  assembled,  would  serve  for  a  certain  rule.  Her  con- 
sent might  be  known,  since  he  supposes  it  is  so  sufficiently  at 
present,  to  condemn  the  Socinians,  and  to  serve  for  an  unalter- 
able rule  in  the  most  knotty  questions.  Now,  by  the  same 
means  that  the  Socinians  are  condemned,  the  other  sects  may 
also  be  condemned.  Nor,  indeed,  can  it  be  denied  that  the 
whoie  Church,  without  assembling  herself,  has  sufficiently  con- 
demned Novatian,  Paul  of  Samosata,  the  Manicheans,  the  Pe- 
lagians, and  an  endless  number  of  other  sects.  In  like  manner, 
what  sect  soever  may  arise,  it  may  always  be  condemned  like 
those,  and  the  Church  will  be  infallible  in  this  condemnation, 
since  her  consent  will  be  a  rule.  Secondly,  by  owning  that  the 
universal  Church  is  infallible,  how  can  the  Councils  not  be  so 
that  represent  her,  which  she  receives,  which  she  approves, 
wherein  nothing  else  is  proposed  but  to  declare  her  sentiments 
in  a  lawful  assembly  ? 

100. — Cavils  against  Councils. 

But  this  assembly  is  impossible,  because  there  is  no  assem- 
bling all  the  pastors  of  the  universe,  and  nmch  less,  so  many 
opposite  communions.  What  a  chicanery !  Did  ever  man 
take  it  into  his  head  to  require,  in  order  to  form  an  Oecumen- 
ical Council,  that  all  pastors  should  be  present  at  it?  Is  it  not 
sufficient  tluit  so  many  come  to  it,  and  from  so  many  places, 
and  the  rest  so  evidently  consent  to  their  assembly,  as  to  be- 
come manifest  that  the  judgment  passed  in  it  is  the  judgment 
of  the  whole  earth?  Who,  therefore,  can  refuse  his  consent  to 
such  a  Council,  unless  he  that  will  say,  Jesus  Christ,  contrary 
to  his  promise,  has  abandoned  the  whole  Church?  And  if  the 
sent-ment  of  the  Church  was  of  much  force  whilst  diffused,  of 
how  much  more  will  it  be,  when  reunited  ? 

101. — Excessive  and  monstrous  poxoer  given  by  the  Minister  to  those  ivho  are 

rebels  to  the  Church. 

Concerning  what  the  Minister  says  about  opposite  commu- 

*  Gal.  ii.  18. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  299 

nions,  I  have  but  one  word  to  tell  him.  If  the  Universal  Church 
be  infallible  in  opposite  communions,  she  would  be  much  more 
so,  remaining  in  her  primitive  unity.  Let  us,  then,  take  her  in 
this  state  ;  let  us  convene  her  pastors  in  the  third  century,  be- 
fore the  Church  was  corrupted  :  before,  if  he  pleases,  that  No- 
vatian  had  separated  from  it :  at  such  a  time,  he  must  allov/  the 
convention  of  such  a  council  would  have  been  a  divine  relief  in 
order  to  prevent  the  progress  of  an  error.  Let  us  now  suppose 
what  came  to  pass  :  a  proud  Novatian  makes  himself  bishop  in 
a  See  already  filled,  and  makes  a  sect  that  will  reform  the 
Church.  He  is  expelled  ;  is  excommunicated  :  what  then  ; 
because  he  continues  to  call  himself  a  Christian,  must  he  be  of 
the  Church  in  despite  of  her  1  Because  he  carries  his  insolence 
to  the  utmost  extremes,  and  will  hsten  to  no  kind  of  reason, 
must  the  Church  have  lost  her  first  unity,  nor  be  able  any 
longer  to  assemble,  nor  to  form  an  universal  Council  unless 
his  proud  heart  consent?  Must  temerity  have  such  a  po"/er? 
And  will  there  need  no  more  than  to  lop  off  a  branch,  nay,  a 
rotten  branch,  to  say  that  the  tree  has  lost  its  unity  and  root  1 
102. — The  Council  of  J^ice  formed  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  Mirujter. 
It  is  therefore  a  thing  not  to  be  questioned,  that  in  spitv3  of 
Novatian,  in  spite  of  Donatus,  in  spite  of  all  other  no  less  con- 
tentious than  unreasonable  men,  the  Church  will  have  power  to 
convene  an  Oecumenical  Council.  Will  have  it,  do  I  say? 
Already  has  she  exercised  that  power,  and  in  despite  of  Nova- 
tian and  Donatus  held  the  Nicene  Council.  That  it  was 
necessary  to  call,  and  what  is  worse,  to  make  the  followers  of 
those  heresiarchs  actually  come  to  it,  in  order  that  the  assembly 
might  be  lawfully  held,  is  what  was  never  so  much  as  thought 
of.  To  invent  such  an  evasion,  and  thirteen  hundred  )  ears 
after  the  whole  world  (the  impious  part  excepted)  has  looked 
on  this  holy  council  as  universal ;  to  maintain  it  was  not  so,  nay, 
that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Catholic  Church  to  hold  such  a 
council,  because  she  could  not  assemble  in  it  those  rebels  who 
had  unjustly  broken  unity,  is  obhging  her  to  depend  on  her  ene- 
mies, and  punish  their  rebellion  on  herself. 

103. — Remarkable  words  of  a  learned  Englishman  concerning  the  infallibility 
of  the  JS''icene  Council. 

Here  is,  then,  a  Council  justly  called  universal,  by  conse- 
quence infallible,  if  the  minister  do  not  forget  all  he  has  just 
granted ;  and  pleased  am  I  with  the  opportimity  of  quoting  to 
him  what  a  learned  Englishman,  a  staunch  Protestant,  has  said 
to  this  purpose.  "  The  matter  under  question  in  this  Council 
was  a  main  article  of  the  Christian  religion.  If,  in  a  question 
of  this  importance,  it  be  imagined,  that  all  the  pastors  of  the 
Church  could  have  fallen  into  error,  and  deceived  all  the  faith- 


300  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

ful,  how  shall  we  be  able  to  defend  the  word  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  has  promised  his  Apostles,  and  in  their  persons,  his  suc- 
cessors, to  be  always  with  them  ?  A  promise  that  would  not 
be  true,  the  Apostles  not  being  to  live  so  long  a  time,  were  it 
not  that  their  successors  are  here  comprehended  in  the  persons 
of  the  Apostles  themselves  ;"*  which  he  confirms  by  a  passage 
out  of  Socrates,!  who  says,  "  That  the  Fathers  of  this  Council, 
although  simple  and  not  over-learned,  could  not  fall  into  error, 
for  that  they  were  illuminated  with  the  light  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;" 
whereby  he  shows  us  all  at  once  the  infallibility  of  universal 
Councils  by  the  Scripture  and  by  the  tradition  of  the  ancient 
Church.  May  the  blessing  of  God  light  on  the  learned  Doctor 
Bull  !  and  in  recompense  of  this  smcere  acknowledgment,  and 
withal  of  that  zeal  he  has  shown  in  defence  of  Jesus  Christ's  di- 
vinity, may  he  be  delivered  from  the  prejudices  which  prevent  him 
from  opening  his  eyes  to  the  lights  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
to  the  necessary  consequences  of  that  truth  he  has  confessed. 
104. — One  may  judge  of  other  Councils  by  the  Council  of  J^ice. 
I  do  neither  undertake  the  history  nor  the  defence  of  all  gene- 
ral councils  ;  it  suffices  me  to  have  remarked  in  one  only,  from 
avovv-ed  principles,  what  the  attentive  reader  will  easily  extend 
to  all  the  rest ;  and  the  least  that  can  be  concluded  from  this 
example  is,  that  God  having  prepared  in  these  assemblies  so 
immediate  an  assistance  to  his  troubled  Church,  it  is  renouncing 
faith  in  his  providence  to  believe,  that  Schismatics  may  so  alter 
the  constitution  of  his  Church,  as  that  this  remedy  should  be- 
come absolutely  impossible  to  her. 

105. — The  Minister  forced  to  take  from  Pastors  the  title  of  Judges  in  matters 

of  Faith. 

In  order  to  enervate  the  authority  of  ecclesiastical  judgments 
in  matters  of  faith,  M.  Jurieu  has  ventured  to  say  that  they  are 
not  even  judgments  ;  that  the  pastors  assembled  in  these  cases 
are  not  judges,  "but  wise  and  experienced  men,  and  that  they 
act  not  with  authority ;"  that  the  want  of  being  let  into  this  se- 
cret was  the  cause,  that  his  brethren  "  have  written  with  so  little 
perspicuity  on  this  subject ;"  and  the  reason  he  alleges  for 
taking  from  councils  the  title  of  judges  is,  because  "  not  being 
infallible,  it  is  impossible  they  should  be  judges  in  decisions 
of  faith,  because  the  word  'judge'  imports  a  person  you  must 
necessarily  submit  to. "J 

106. — This  Doctrine  is  contrary  to  the  sentiments  of  his  Churches. 

That  the  pastors  are  not  judges  in  questions  relative  to  faith, 
is  what  never  has  been  heard  of  among  Christians,  nay,  not  so 
much  as  in  the  Reformation,  where  ecclesiastical  authority  is 

*  Dr.  Bull,  def.  fid.  Nic.  prcem.  n.  2.  p.  2.     Ibid.  n.  3.     f  Socra.  1.  i.  c.  9. 
X  Syst.  1.  iii.  ch.  ii.  p.  243.  ch.  iii.  p.  251.  ch.  iv.  p.  258.  Ibid.  243.  p.  255. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  301 

brought  to  so  low  an  ebb.  On  the  contrary,  M.  Jurieu  him- 
self produces  us  the  words  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,*  v*herein 
that  Synod  declares  herself  judge,  and  even  "lawful  judge,  in 
the  cause  of  Arminius,"  which  certainly  regarded  faith. 

We  read  also  in  the  book  of  Dis.cipline,t  "  that  all  the  differ- 
ences of  a  province  shall  be  definitively  judged,  and  without  ap- 
peal, in  its  respective  provincial  Synod,  except  what  regards 

suspensions  and  degradations And  likewise  what 

concerns  doctrine,  the  sacraments,  and  discipline  in  general ; 
all  which  cases  may,  step  by  step,  be  brought  up  to  the  national 
Synod  to  receive  the  definitive  and  last  judgment,"  which,  in 
another  place,   is   called    "  the  entire    and   final  resolution. "J 

To  say  with  M.  Jurieu, §  that  the  word  "judgment"  is  here 
taken  "  in  an  extensive  sense,"  for  a  report  of  experienced 
men,  and  not  for  a  sentence  "  of  judges  having  authority  to  bind 
men's  consciences,"  is  an  insult  on  human  language  ;  for  what 
must  be  called  acting  with  authority,  and  binding  consciences, 
if  it  be  not  to  push  things  so  far  as  to  obhge  the  particular  con- 
demned persons II  "  to  acquiesce  from  point  to  point,  and  with 
express  disclaiming  of  their  errors  entered  in  a  register,  under 
penalty  of  being  cut  off  from  the  Church?" 

Is  this  a  judgment  in  an  improper  "and  more  extensive  sense," 
and  not  rather  a  judgment  in  full  rigor?  And  that  the  Synods 
have  exerted  this  power,  we  have  seen  in  the  aflair  of  Piscator,*)! 
they  obliging  him  to  subscribe  a  formulary  which  condemned 
his  doctrine  :  we  have  seen  in  the  affair  of  Arminius,  and  in  the 
subscription  required  to  the  canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dort ;  and 
all  the  registers  of  our  reformed  are  full  of  the  like  subscriptions. 

107. — Subscriptions  disapjrroved  by  the  Minister  notwithstanding  the  practice 

of  his  Churches. 

No  other  remedy  has  M.  Jurieu  found  out  for  this  but  to  say,** 
"  that  when  a  Synod  decides  controversies  which  are  not  impor- 
tant, it  ought  never  to  oblige  the  condemned  parties  to  sub- 
scribe, and  to  beheve  her  decisions  ;"  but  this  is  contrary  to  the 
express  terms  of  their  Discipline,  "  which  obliges  to  acquiesce 
from  point  to  point,  and  with  an  express  disclaiming  of  their 
errors  entered  in  a  register,  under  penalty  of  being  severed  from 
the  Church ;"  which  M.  Jurieu  himself  understands  "  of  less 
important  controversies,  which  neither  destroy  nor  hurt  the 
foundation. "|"j* 

103. — The  Minister's  evasion. 

It  only  remainded  to  say,  that  "  cutting  off  from  the  Church," 
in  this  place,  was  no  more  than  cutting  off  from  an  arbitrary 

*  Syst.  1.  iii.  ch.  ii.  p.  243.  ch.  ili.   p.  251.  ch.  iv.  p.  258.  Ibid.  243.  p.  257. 

t  Disc.  ch.  viii.  Art.  x.        J  Ibid.  v.  Art.  xxxii.  p.  114.  §  Syst.  p.  257. 

II  Disc.  Ibid.              H  S.  I.  xii.          ++  Syst.  p.  306.  ft  Ibid.  p.  270. 
VOL.   II.                                     26 


S02  THE    HISTORY    OF  [BOOK 

confederation,*  contrary  to  the  express  words  of  their  Disci- 
pline, which,  explaining  this  cutting  off  in  the  same  chapter,  is 
acquainted  with  no  other  than  that  which  severs  a  rotten  mem- 
ber from  the  body,  and  ranks  it  among  heathens,  as  already  seen, 

109. — Infallibility  proved  by  the  principles  of  the  Minister. 
Wherefore  it  is  but  too  manifest  that  this  minister  has  changed 
the  maxims  of  the  sect.  Let  us  now  restore  them,  and  joining 
them  to  the  minister's  own  principles,  we  shall  clearly  find  in- 
fallibility confessed.  By  the  minister's  principles,  if  councils 
were  judges  in  matters  of  faith,  they  would  be  infallible  :|  now, 
by  the  principles  of  his  Church,  they  are  judges  ;  therefore,  the 
minister  either  must  condemn  himself,  or  his  Church,  if  he  al- 
low not  the  infallibility  of  councils,  of  those  at  least,  wherein  is 
the  last  and  final  resolution  :  but  though  he  should  have  bereft 
the  pastors  assembled  of  the  title  of  judges,  so  as  to  leave  them 
nothing  but  that  of  experienced  men,  yet  the  councils  would  be 
but  the  better  authorized  by  his  doctrine,  there  being  not  a  man 
of  sound  sense  that  would  not  hold  himself  for  at  least  as  rash, 
in  resisting  the  sentiment  of  all  experienced  men,  as  in  resist- 
ing the  sentence  of  all  judges. 

110. — Sirange  expression  of  the  Minister,  who  will  have  xts  sacrifice  Truth  to 

Peace. 

He  is  not  less  perplexed  about  the  letters  of  submission,  which 
the  deputies  of  all  provincial  Synods  are  to  carry  to  the  national 
one  in  good  form,  and  in  these  terms  :;]; — "  We  promise  before 
God  to  subiTiit  ourselves  to  all  that  shall  be  concluded  and  re- 
solved in  your  holy  assembly,  persuaded,  as  we  are,  that  God 
will  there  preside,  and  will  lead  you  into  all  truth  and  equity  by 
the  rule  of  his  v/ord."  The  last  words  demonstrate  that  the 
matter  in  hand  was  religion  ;  nor  any  longer  can  we  learn  what 
it  is  to  be  judges,  nay,  and  sovereign  judges,  if  men  to  whom 
such  an  oath  is  taken  be  not  so.  I  have  elsewhere  shown  §  that 
they  exacted  it  in  full  rigor;  that  many  provinces  were  censured 
for  having  made  a  difficulty  of  submitting  "  to  the  clause  of  ap- 
probation, of  submission  and  obedience  ;"  and  that  they  were 
obliged  "  to  make  it  in  specific  terms  to  all  that  should  be  con- 
cluded and  decreed,  without  condition  or  modification."  These 
words  are  so  pressing,  that  after  so  long  torturing  himself  to 
expound  them,  ]\L  Jurieu  at  length  comes  to  say,]]  ''  that  they 
promise  this  submission  on  regulations  of  discipline  relating  to 
things  indiiferent,  or,  at  furthest,  less  important  controversies, 
which  do  not  destroy  nor  hurt  the  foundation  of  faith  ;"  so  that, 
concludes  he,  "  it  is  not  strange  that  in  such  sort  of  things  we 

*  Syst.  p.  269.  Ibid.  Art.  xvii.     t  Sup.  n.  105.  S.  106,  et  seq.     J  Disc.  p.  144. 

§  Expos,  ch.  xix.     Conference  with  M.  Claude,  pp.  52.  337. 

li  Syst.  pp.  270,  271. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  303 

pay  the  Synod  an  entire  submission,  because,  in  controversies 
which  are  not  of  the  utmost  importance,  we  ought  to  sacrifice 
truths  to  the  good  of  peace." 

Sacrifice  truths,  and  the  revealed  truths  of  God  !  Either  he 
knows  not  what  he  says,  or  he  blasphemes.  To  sacrifice  hea- 
venly truths,  if  this  be  to  renounce  them,  and  subscribe  the  con- 
demnation of  them,  it  is  a  blasphemy.  There  is  no  truth 
revealed  of  God  that  does  not  deserve,  so  far  from  sacrificing 
it,  that  we  should  sacrifice  ourselves  for  it.  But  perchance  to 
sacrifice  them,  is  to  hold  one's  tongue.  The  expression  is 
much  too  violent.  Let  it  pass,  however,  provided  this  will 
satisfy  :  but  the  Synod  will  come  upon  you  "  after  her  last  and 
final  resolution,"  and  press  you  in  virtue  of  their  Discipline  and 
your  own  solemn  oath,  "  to  acquiesce  from  point  to  point,  and 
with  an  express  disclaiming  of  your  opinion  authentically  enter- 
ed in  a  register,"  in  order  to  prevent  all  equivocation,  under 
penalty  of  being  cut  ofi'from  God's  people,  and  accounted  as  a 
heathen.  What  will  you  do,  if  unable  to  make  your  judgment 
bend  to  that  of  the  Church  ?  Certainly,  either  you  will  subscribe 
and  betray  your  conscience,  or  speedily  you  alone  will  be  your 
whole  Church. 

111. — The  Confession  of  Faith  alio  ays  put  to  the  question  in  all  Synods. 

Besides,  when  the  minister  tells  us,*  that  the  points  of  con- 
troversy which  are  submitted  to  the  Synod,  are  not  those  which 
are  contained  in  the  "  Confession  of  Faith,"  he  does  not  reflect 
how  many  times  they  Vv'ould  have  changed  them  in  important 
articles  out  of  complaisance  to  the  Lutherans.  Nay,  more,  he 
has  forgotten  the  custom  of  all  their  Synods,  wherein  the  first 
point  put  to  debate  always  is,  upon  reading  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  to  examine  whether  there  be  anything  to  be  corrected  in 
it.  The  fact  was  put  to  M.  Claude, f  nor  was  it  denied  by  him, 
and  besides  this,  it  is  manifest  by  the  acts  of  all  the  Synods. 
Yv'ho  v/ill  now  wonder  that  nothing  has  escaped  change  in  the 
new  Reformation,  since,  notwithstanding  so  many  books  written, 
and  so  many  Synods  held,  they  are  every  day  still  to  seek  and 
deliberate  anew  about  their  faith  1 

1 12. — The  weak  constitution  of  the  Refm-mation  forces  at  length  the  Ministers 
to  change  their  Capital  Dogma,  viz.  the  necessity  of  the  Scripture. 

But  nothing  will  set  in  a  plainer  light  the  feeble  constitution 
of  their  Church,  than  the  change  I  am  now  about  to  relate. 
Nothing;  amono;st  them  is  more  essential,  nor  more  fundamen- 
tal,  than  to  oblige  each  one  to  form  his  faith  on  the  reading  of 
the  Scripture.  But  one  sole  question  proposed  to  them  has,  at 
length,  withdrawn  them  from  this  principle.  Now,  they  were 
asked,  what  could  be  the  faith  of  those  people,  who  as  yet  had 
*  Syst.  p.  270.  t  Conference  with  M.  Claude,  p.  378. 


304  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

neither  read  the  Scripture  nor  heard  it  read,  but  were  just  entering 
on  the  reading  of  it  1  There  needed  no  more  than  this  to  put 
them  manifestly  to  a  stand. 

To  say,  ihat  in  this  state,  one  has  no  faith,  with  what  dispo- 
sition, then,  and  in  what  spirit,  will  such  a  man  read  the  holy 
Scripture  ]  But  if  you  say,  he  has,  whence  has  he  received  it? 
All  they  had  to  answer  was,*  "  that  the  Christian  doctrine, 
taken  in  the  whole,  makes  itself  be  felt ;  that  to  form  an  act  of 
faith  on  the  divinity  of  Scripture,  it  is  not  necessary  to  have 
read  it  ;|  that  it  suffices  to  have  read  a  summary  of  Christian 
doctrine  without  descending  to  particulars ;  that  those  who 
wanted  the  Scripture,  had  it  nevertheless  in  their  power  to  be- 
come good  Christians  ;  that  the  Gospel  doctrine  makes  its  di- 
vinity be  felt  by  the  simple,  independently  of  the  book  in  which 
it  is  contained  ;  that  supposing  this  doctrine  were  mixed  with 
things  not  divine  but  useless,  the  pure  and  celestial  doctrine 
blended  with  it  would  nevertheless  make  itself  be  felt ;  that  con- 
science relishes  truth,  after  which  the  faithful  man  believes  such 
a  book  to  be  canonical,  because  he  has  found  truths  that  sensi- 
bly affect  him ;  in  a  word,  that  one  feels  truth  as  he  feels  the 
light  in  seeing  it ;  heat,  sitting  near  the  fire  ;  sweet  and  bitter, 
in  eating." 

113. — Their  Faith  no  longer  fcn-med  on  Scripture. 

Heretofore  it  was  an  inextricable  difficulty  for  the  ministers 

to  resolve  this  question  ;  whether  or  not  it  is  requisite,  if  faith 

be  to  be  formed  on  Scripture,  to  have  read  all  the  books  thereof? 

and,  if  sufficient  to  have  read  some  of  them,  which  are  those 

privileged  ones  we  must  read  preferably  to  the  rest,  in  order  to 

form  our  faith  ?     But  they  have  rid  themselves  of  this  perplexity 

by  saying,  there  is  not  even  a  necessity  of  reading  any  one  of 

them ;   nay,  they  have  carried  it  so  far  as  to  make  a  believer 

form  his  faith  without  so  much  as  knowing  which  are  the  books 

inspired  by  God. 

114. — The  people  have  no  further  necessity  of  discerning  Apocryphal  from 

Canonical  Books. 

Their  thoughts  were  too  much  busied  about  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  when  they  said,  speaking  of  the  divine  books,J  "  that 
they  were  known  for  canonical,  not  so  much  from  the  consent 
of  the  Church,  as  from  the  testimony  and  interior  persuasion  of 
the  Holy  Ghost."  The  ministers,  it  seems,  are  sensible  at 
present  that  this  was  all  illusion,  and  how  little  likelihood  there 
is  that  the  lliithful  should  be  capable,  by  their  interior  relish,  and 
without  the  assistance  of  tradition,  to  discern  from  a  profane 
book,  the  Canticle  of  Canticles,  or  to  feel  the  divinity  of  the  first 
chapters  of  Genesis,  and  so  forth  ;  accordingly,  it  is  decided  at 

*  Syst.  p.  428.  t  Ibid.  p.  453,  et  seq.  J  Confess.  Art.  iv. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  305 

present,  "  that  the  examination  of  the  question  touching  Apoc- 
ryphal books,  is  not  necessary  for  the  people."  M.  Jurieu*  has 
written  a  chapter  expressly  to  prove  it ;  and  so  far  is  it  from 
being  requisite  to  torment  one's  self  about  books  Canonical  or 
Apocryphal,  about  text  or  version,  or  to  be  at  the  pains  of  dis- 
cussing Scripture,  or  even  reading  it,  that  the  Christian  truths, 
provided  you  only  put  them  together,  will  of  themselves  make 
you  feel  them  as  you  feel  cold  and  heat. 

115. — The  importance  of  this  change. 

M.  Jurieu  says  all  this  ;  and  what  is  more  remarkable,  says 
it  but  after  M.  Claude.  And  since  these  two  ministers  have 
concurred  together  in  this  point,  which  is  as  much  as  to  say, 
that  the  party  has  but  this  sole  refuge  ;  let  us  stop  a  while  to 
consider  whence  they  set  out,  and  ^yhither  they  are  arrived. 
The  ministers  heretofore  built  faith  on  Scripture  ;"|"  now  they 
form  it  without  the  Scripture.  It  was  said  in  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  speaking  of  Scripture,  J  that  "  all  things  ought  to  be 
examined,  regulated,  and  reformed  according  to  it ;"  now,  not 
the  sentiment,  which  men  have  of  things,  ought  to  be  proved  by 
Scripture,  but  Scripture  itself  is  not  known,  nor  perceived  to 
be  Scripture,  otherwise  than  by  the  sentiment  you  have  of  things 
before  you  know  the  divine  books  ;  and  religion  is  formed 
without  them. 

1 16. — Manifest  Fanaticism. 

This  testimony,  imagined  by  men  to  proceed  from  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whereby  to  discern  divine  Scripture  from  Scripture  not 
divine,  was  held  deservedly  for  fanaticism  and  a  means  of  deceit ; 
because  this  testimony,  not  being  annexed  to  any  positive  proof, 
there  was  not  a  man  that  could  not  either  boast  of  it  without 
reason,  or  fancy  it  to  himself  without  grounds.  But  the  case 
is  now  much  worse ;  whereas  they  said  formerly,  "  let  us  see 
what  is  v.Titten,  and  then  we  will  believe  ;"  which  was  begin- 
ning at  least  by  something  positive  and  a  certain  fact :  now, 
they  begin  by  feeling  things  in  themselves  as  you  feel  cold  and 
heat,  sweet  and  bitter  ;  and  when  afterwards  they  come  to  read 
the  Scripture  in  this  disposition,  God  knows  with  what  facility 
they  turn  it  to  what  they  already  hold  for  as  certain  as  vv^hat  they 
have  seen  with  their  eyes  and  touched  with  their  hands. 

117. — J^either  Miracles,  nor  Prophecies,  nor  Scripture,  nor  Tradition  necessary 
to  authorize  and  declare  Revelation. 

According  to  this  presupposition,   viz.,  truths  necessary  to 

salvation  make  themselves  be  felt  by  themselves,  Jesus  Christ 

needed  not  miracles,  nor  prophecies  :   Moses  would  have  been 

believed,  though  the  Red  Sea  had  not  divided  itself,  though  the 

*  Syst.  1.  iii.  lb.  ch.  ii.  p.  3.  j  Def  of  the  Ref.  part  ii.  ch.  ix.  p.  296. 

et  seq.  \  Confession  of  Faith,  Art  v. 

VOL.  II.  26* 


306  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

rock  had  not  poured  out  torrents  of  water  at  the  first  touch  of 
the  wand  ;  they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  propose  the  Gospel  or 
the  law.  No  more  had  the  fathers  of  Nice  and  Ephesus,  than 
to  propose  the  Trinity  and  Incarnation,  provided  they  proposed 
it  with  all  the  other  mysteries  ;  the  researches  into  Scripture 
and  tradition,  which  they  made  with  so  much  care,  were  need- 
less to  them  :  on  the  bare  exposition  of  truth,  grace  would  have 
commanded  the  assent  of  all  the  faithful ;  God  inspires  all  he 
pleases  into  whom  he  pleases,  and  inspiration  of  itself  alone  can 
do  all  things. 

118. — The  Grace  necessary  to  produce  Faith,  lohy  annexed  to  certain  exterior 
means  and  matters  of  fact. 

This  was  not  the  thing  doubted  of,  and  the  power  of  God  was 
well  known  to  Catholics,  no  less  than  the  necessity  men  stood 
in,  of  his  inspiration  and  grace.      The  business  was  to  find  out 
the  external  means  it  makes  use  of,  and  whereto  God  has  been 
pleased  to  annex  it ;   one  may  feign  or  imagine  that  he  is  inspired 
of  God  without  being  really  so  ;  but  he  cannot  feign,  nor  ima- 
gine that  the  sea  divides  itself,  that  the  earth  opens,  the  dead 
arise,  those  born  blind  receive  sight,  that  he  reads  such  a  thing 
in  a  book,  and  that  such  and  such  our  predecessors  in  the  faith 
have  so   understood  it ;    that  the  whole  church  believes,  and 
always  has  beheved  it  so.      The  question,  therefore,  at  issue  is, 
not  whether  those  external  means  be  sufficient  without  grace 
and  divine  inspiration,  for  none  pretends  that :   but,  in  order  to 
hinder  men  from  feigning  or  imagining  an  inspiration,  whether 
it  has  not  been  God's  economy,  and  his  usual  conduct,  to  make 
his  inspiration  walk  hand  in  hand  with  certain  means  of  fact, 
which  men  can  neither  feign  in  the  air  without  being  convicted 
of  falsehood,  nor  imagine  without  illusion.     This  is  not  the 
place  to  determine  which  are  these  facts,  which  these  external 
means,  which  the  motives  of  belief,  since  it  is  already  certain 
there  are  some  such,  for  the  minister  hath  agreed  to  it ;  it  is,  I 
say,  agreed,  not  only  that  there  are  such  certain  facts,  but  more- 
over that  those  certain  facts  may  serve  for  an  infallible  rule. 
For  instance,  according  to  him,  it  is  a  certain  fact  that  the  Chris- 
tian Church  has  always  believed  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  soul's  immortality,  and  the  eternity  of  pains,  with  such  and 
such  other  articles  :  but  this  certain  fact,  according  to  him,  is  an 
infallible  rule,  and  the  best  of  all  rules,  not  only  to  decide  all 
these  articles,  but  also  to  resolve  the  obscure  and  knotty  ques- 
tion concerning  fundamentals.     We   have   seen  the  passages 
where  the  Minister  teaches  and   proves  this  ;*   but  when  he 
teaches  thus,  and  allows  the  universal  consent  to  be  "  the  most 
sure  rule"  of  judging  these  important  and  knotty  questions ; 

'^  S.  n.  38.  et  seq. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  307 

yet,  in  proposing  this  external  motive,  which,  according  to  him, 
implies  demonstration,  he  did  not  aim  at  excluding  grace  and 
inward  inspiration  :  the  question,  therefore,  is,  whether  the  au- 
thority of  the  Church,  which  joined  to  the  grace  of  God  is  a 
sufficient  motive  and  "  most  sure  of  all  rules"  in  certain  points, 
may  not  be  so  in  all ;  and  whether,  setting  up  an  inspiration  ex- 
clusive of  all  these  exterior  means,  and  whereof  you  give  your- 
self and  your  own  sentiment  for  surety  to  yourself  and  others, 
be  not  the  best  plea  that  can  possibly  be  put  into  the  mouths  of 
false  teachers,  the  surest  illusion  to  drive  headstrong  men  to  the 
utmost  extremes. 

119. — The  language  of  the  Ministers  loosens  the  reins  to  the  peopWs 
licentiousness. 

After  having  put  it  into  the  heads  of  the  people  that  they  are 
particularly  inspired  by  God  ;  to  complete  the  thing  you  need 
but  also  tell  them  that  they  may  make  themselves  guides  as  they 
think  fit,  may  depose  all  those  that  are  established,  may  set  up 
others  to  act  by  such  powers  as  they  judge  meet  to  communi- 
cate. This  is  what  has  been  done  in  the  Reformation.  M. 
Claude  and  M.  Jurieu  also  agree  together  in  this  doctrine. 
120. — The  language  of  the  Catholic  Church  concerning  the  settlement  of  Pastors. 

The  Catholic  Church  thus  speaks  to  the  Christian  people. 
Ye  are  a  people,  a  state,  and  a  society  :  but  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  your  king,  holds  nothing  of  you,  and  his  authority  is  derived 
from  a  higher  source  :  naturally,  you  have  no  more  right  to  give 
him  ministers  than  you  have  to  appoint  him  your  prince  ;  thus 
his  ministers,  who  are  your  pastors,  derive  their  descent  stiil 
higher  as  he  himself  does,  and  it  is  necessary  they  should  come 
by  an  order  of  his  appointment.  The  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  of  this  world,  nor  can  a  comparison  be  made  between  his 
kino;dom  and  those  of  the  earth,  which  is  not  defective  ;  in  a 
word,  nature  affords  us  nothing  that  bears  a  conformity  with 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  nor  have  you  any  other  right 
than  that  which  you  shall  find  in  the  laws  or  customs  immemo- 
rial of  your  society.  Now,  these  customs  immemorial,  to 
begin  from  the  Apostolic  times,  are,  that  the  pastors  already 
constituted  should  constitute  others  :  "  Choose  ye,"  say  the 
Apostles,  "  and  we  shall  appoint  ;"*  it  was  Titus's  business  to 
appoint  the  pastors  of  Crete  ;  and  it  was  from  Paul,  appointed 
by  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  received  this  power.  "  For  this  cause," 
says  he,  "  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou  shouldest  reform  the 
things  that  are  wanting,  and  ordain  priests  in  every  city,  as  I 
had  appointed  thee.""f  Besides,  those  who  flatter  you  with  the 
notion  that  your  consent  is  absolutely  necessary  to  constitute 
your  pastors,  do  not  believe  what  they  tell  you,  since  they 
*  Acts  vi.  3,  6,  7.  t  Tit.  i.  5. 


308  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

acknowledge  those  of  England  for  true  pastors,  though  the  peo- 
ple has  no  share  in  their  election.  The  example  of  St.  Mathias, 
extraordinarily  chosen  by  a  divine  lot,  ought  not  to  be  made  a 
precedent,  nay,  even  then,  all  was  not  left  to  the  people,  for  Pe- 
ter, already  established  pastor  by  Jesus  Christ,  held  the  assem- 
bly :  neither  was  it  election  that  constituted  Mathias  ;  it  was 
heaven  which  declared  itself.  Everywhere  else,  the  authority 
of  constituting  is  given  to  pastors  already  constituted  :  the 
power,  which  they  have  from  above,  is  rendered  sensible  by  the 
imposition  of  hands,  a  ceremony  reserved  to  their  order.  It  is 
thus  that  pastors  follow  successively  one  another  :  Jesus  Christ, 
who  appointed  the  first,  has  said  that  he  would  always  be  with 
those  to  whom  they  should  transmit  their  power  ;  ye  cannot  have 
pastors  anywhere  but  in  this  succession,  nor  any  more  ought  ye 
to  apprehend  its  failing,  than  that  the  Church  herself,  preaching, 
and  the  sacraments,  should  fail. 

121. — Language  of  the  Reformation. 
Thus  speaks  the  Church,  nor  do  the  people  presume  beyond 
what  is  given  them :  but  the  Reformation  speaks  to  them  quite 
the  contrary.  In  you,  says  she,  is  the  source  of  celestial  power  ; 
ye  may  not  only  present,  but  constitute  your  pastors.  Should 
proofs  of  this  power,  in  the  people,  be  required  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, she  would  be  at  a  stand.  To  exempt  herself  from  this 
task,  she  tells  the  people  that  it  is  a  natural  right  of  all  societies  ; 
so  that,  to  enjoy  it,  there  is  no  need  of  Scripture,  it  being  suffi- 
cient that  Scripture  has  not  recalled  this  right  allowed  by  nature. 
The  turn  is  cunning,  I  must  own  ;  but  beware  of  it,  ye  people, 
who  are  fed  with  this  delusion  !  To  make  yourselves  a  lord  on 
earth,  it  suffices  to  acknowledge  him  for  such,  and  every  man 
carries  this  power  in  his  own  will.  But  the  case  is  not  the  same 
in  making  yourselves  a  Christ,  a  Saviour,  a  celestial  King,  and 
appointing  him  his  ministers.  And  will  ye  then,  indeed,  ye  peo- 
ple, impose  your  hands  on  them  on  being  told  it  appertains  to 
you  to  appoint  them  1  They  dare  not :  but  are  again  encouraged, 
when  assured  this  ceremony  of  imposition  of  hands  is  not  neces- 
sary. What !  is  it  not  sufficient  to  judge  it  necessary,  that  you 
so  often  find  it  in  Scripture,  and  do  not  find,  either  in  Scripture 
or  in  all  tradition,  that  ever  pastor  was  made  any  other  way,  no, 
not  one  but  was  made  by  other  pastors'?  No  matter,  do  it  ne- 
vertheless, O  people !  believe  ye  that  the  power  of  loosing  and 
binding,  of  appointing  and  rejecting,  is  in  you,  and  that  your 
pastors  have  no  power  but  as  your  representatives  ;  that  the 
authority  of  their  Synod  flows  from  you,  that  they  are  no  more 
than  your  delegates ;  beheve,  I  say,  all  these  things,  although 
you  find  not  a  word  thereof  in  Scripture ;  and  believe,  beyond 
every  thing  else,  that,  when  you  shall  think  yourselves  inspired 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  309 

by  God  to  reform  the  Church,  whensoever  you  shall  be  assem- 
bled in  whatsoever  way,  you  have  power  to  do  with  your  pastors 
just  what  you  please,  none  having  a  right  to  deprive  you  of  this 
liberty,  it  being  derived  from  nature.  Thus  is  the  Reformation 
preached ;  thus  is  Christianity  destroyed  root  and  branch,  and 
the  way  paved  for  Antichrist. 

122. — The  Sects  issuing  from  the  Reformation,  proofs  of  her  evil  constitution. — 
Comparison  of  the  Ancient  Church  ill  alleged. 

With  such  maxims  and  such  a  spirit,  (for  although  it  shoots 
out  more  manifest  in  our  days,  the  root  was  always  the  same  in 
the  Reformation),  it  is  no  longer  to  be  wondered  that  we  have 
seen  it,  from  its  first  origin,  run  from  change  to  change,  pro- 
ductive of  so  many  sects  of  so  many  kinds.  M.  Jurieu  has 
had  the  face  to  answer,  that  herein,  as  in  all  other  things,  it  re- 
sembles the  primitive  Church.*  In  good  truth,  this  is  too  noto- 
riously abusing  the  people's  credulity  and  the  venerable  name 
of  the  primitive  Church.  The  sects  which  divided  from  her 
were  not  the  consequence  or  natural  effect  of  her  constitution. 
Two  kinds  of  sects  did  arise  in  primitive  Christianity  ;  some 
purely  heathen  in  their  foundation,  as  that  of  the  Yalentinians, 
the  Simonians,  the  Manicheans,  and  others  of  that  stamp  which 
entered  themselves,  in  appearance,  on  the  list  of  Christians, 
only  to  set  themselves  off  with  the  great  name  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
nor  have  these  sects  anything  in  common  with  those  of  the  lat- 
ter ages.  The  other  sectaries,  for  the  most  part,  were  Chris- 
tians, which,  unable  to  bear  the  loftiness,  and,  as  I  may  say,  the 
whole  weight  of  faith,  sought  to  ease  reason  now  of  one  article, 
then  of  another :  thus,  some  deprived  Christ  of  his  divinity ; 
others,  unable  to  unite  the  divinity  and  humanity,  mutilated,  as 
it  were,  in  divers  ways,  both  one  and  the  other.  Against  the 
like  rocks  split  the  proud  spirit  of  Martin  Luther.  He  sunk  in 
reconciling  grace  and  free-will,  which,  in  truth,  is  a  grand  mys- 
tery :  he  kept  no  compass  in  matter  of  predestination,  and  no 
longer  saw  anything  for  men  but  a  fatal  and  inevitable  neces- 
sity, wherein  good  and  evil  are  equally  comprehended.  We 
have  seen  how  these  extravagant  maxims  produced  those  of  the 
Calvinists,  still  more  extravagant.  When  laying  aside  all  tem- 
per, by  carrying  to  extremes  predestination  and  grace,  men  fell 
into  such  visible  excesses  as  were  no  longer  to  be  supported : 
the  horror  they  conceived  thereof  cast  them  into  the  opposite 
extreme  ;  and  from  Luther's  excess,  who  went  beyond  bounds 
with  grace,  (however  incredible  it  may  seem),  they  passed  to 
the  excess  of  the  Demipelagians,  who  destroy  it.  Whence 
have  we  the  Arminians,  who,  in  our  days,  have  produced  the 
Pajonists,  complete  Pelagians,  whose  author  was  M.  Pajon,  the 

+  History  of  Calvin,  part  i.  ch.  iv. 


310  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

late  minister  of  Orleans.  On  the  other  side,  the  same  Luther, 
cast  down  by  the  force  of  these  words, — "  This  is  my  body, 
this  is  my  blood,"  could  not  find  in  his  heart  to  reject  the  Real 
Presence  ;  but  at  the  same  time  was  resolved,  in  compliance 
with  human  sense,  to  rid  it  of  the  change  of  substance.  Things 
stopped  not  there ;  and  the  Real  Presence  was  soon  assaulted. 
Human  sense  took  a  pleasure  in  its  own  inventions,  and  its  ex- 
ceptions being  satisfied  with  regard  to  one  mystery,  stood  up 
for  the  same  concession  in  all  the  rest.  As  Zuinglius  and  his 
followers  pretended  that  the  Real  Presence  was  a  remnant  of 
Popery  still  to  be  reformed  in  Lutheranism,  the  Socinians  now 
a  days  say  the  same  of  the  Trinity  and  Incarnation  ;  and  these 
great  mysteries,  which  had  stood  free  from  all  insult  of  heresy 
for  twelve  hundred  years,  are  entered  on  the  footing  of  disputa- 
ble points  in  an  age  when  all  kinds  of  novelties  think  they  have 
a  right  to  show  their  heads. 

123. — Socinians  united  with  the  Jlnabaptists,  and  both  of  them  deriving  their 
ongin  from  Luther  and  Calvin. 

We  have  seen  the  illusions  of  the  Anabaptists,  and  are  sen- 
sible it  was  by  following  the  principles  of  Luther  and  the  rest 
of  the  Reformers  that  they  rejected  baptism  without  immersion, 
and  infant  baptism  ;  for  this  reason,  that  they  did  not  find  them 
in  the  Scripture,  where  they  were  made  believe  all  was  con- 
tained. The  Unitarians  or  Socinians  united  with  them,  yet  not 
so  as  to  keep  within  the  limits  of  their  maxims,  because  the 
principles  they  had  borrowed  from  the  Reformers  led  them  much 
further. 

M.  Jurieu  remarks  that  they  came  forth  a  long  while  since 
the  Reformation,  from  the  midst  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Where  is  the  wonder !  Luther  and  Calvin  came  forth  from  her 
as  well  as  they.  The  question  is,  whether  the  constitution  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  was  the  cause  of  these  innovations,  and 
not  rather  the  riew  Church-frame  set  up  by  the  Reformers. 
Now  this  question  is  easily  decided  by  the  history  of  Socinian- 
ism.*  In  1545,  and  in  the  years  subsequent  to  this  date,  twenty 
years  after  Luther  had  removed  the  bounds  set  by  our  forefa- 
thers, when  all  minds  v/ere  in  a  ferment,  and  the  world,  teeming 
with  novelty  from  his  disputes,  was  always  ready  to  bring  forth 
some  strange  offspring,  Lelio  Socinus  and  his  companions  held 
their  clandestine  conventicles  in  Italy  against  the  divinity  of  the 
Son  of  God.  George  Blandratus  and  Faustus  Socinus,  Lelio's 
nephew,  maintained  this  doctrine  in  1558  and  in  1573,  and 
formed  the  party.  By  the  same  method  employed  by  ZuingUus 
to  elude  these  words,  "  This  is  my  body,"  the  Socinians  and 
their  followers  eluded  those  by  wliich  Christ  is  called  God.  If 
*  Vid.  Bibl.  Anti-Trinit 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  311 

Zuinglius  believed  himself  forced  to  the  figurative  interpretation 
by  the  impossibiUty  of  comprehending  a  human  body  whole  and 
entire  everywhere  that  the  Eucharist  was  distributed,  the  Unita- 
rians believed  they  had  the  same  right  over  all  the  other  myste- 
ries equally  incomprehensible  ;  and  after  it  had  been  set  them 
for  a  rule  to  understand  figuratively  those  passages  of  Scripture 
which  bore  hard  on  human  reasoning,  they  did  but  extend  this 
rule  to  whatsoever  the  mind  of  man  had  to  suffer  the  like  vio- 
lence from.  To  these  evil  dispositions  introduced  by  the  Re- 
formation, let  us  join  the  general  foundations  it  had  laid,  the 
authority  of  the  Church  despised,  the  succession  of  pastors  held 
for  nothing,  precedent  ages  impeached  of  error,  the  Fathers 
themselves  basely  handled,  all  fences  laid  open,  and  human  cu- 
riosity abandoned  entirely  to  itself;  what  else  could  be  the  issue 
but  what  has  been  seen,  namely,  an  unbridled  licentiousness  in 
all  matters  of  religion  1  But  experience  has  proved  that  these 
hardy  innovators  saw  not  the  least  possibility  of  settling  amongst 
us ;  it  was  to  the  Churches  of  the  Reformation  they  betook 
themselves  ;  those  upstart  Churches,  which,  set  in  motion,  and 
still  giddy  with  their  own  changes,  were  susceptible  of  all  others. 
It  was  in  the  bosom  of  these  Churches,  at  Geneva,  amongst  the 
Swiss  and  the  Polish  protestants,  that  the  Unitarians  sought  a 
sanctuary.  Repulsed  by  some  of  these  Churches,  they  raised 
themselves  a  sufficient  number  of  disciples  amongst  the  rest  of 
them  to  make  a  separate  body.  This,  beyond  question,  was 
their  origin.  You  need  but  look  into  the  Testament  of  George 
Schoman,  one  of  the  Unitarian  chiefs,  and  the  account  given  by 
Andrew  Wissonats,  "  in  what  manner  the  Unitarians  separated 
themselves  from  the  Reformed,"*  to  be  convinced  that  this  sect 
was  nothing  but  a  progress  of,  and  a  sequel  from  the  dogmas 
of  Luther,  of  Calvin,  of  Zuinglius,  of  Menon,  the  last  of  whom 
was  one  of  the  heads  of  the  Anabaptists.  There  you  will  find 
all  those  sects  were  but  "  the  first  draught,  and,  as  it  were,  the 
dawn  of  the  Reformation,  and  that  Anabaptism,  joined  to  Soci- 
nianism,  is  the  mid-day. "| 

124. — Constilution  of  the  Reformation  hoio  unlike  to  that  of  the  Primitive 

Church. 

No  longer,  therefore,  let  them  object  to  us  the  sects  of  the 
ancient  Church,  and  no  longer  boast  of  resemblinn;  her.  Never 
did  the  ancient  Church  vary  in  her  doctrine  ;  never,  in  her  con- 
fessions of  faith,  did  she  suppress  the  truths  which  she  believed 
were  revealed  by  God  ;  she  never  retouched  her  decisions, 
never  deliberated  anew  on  matters  once  determined  ;  never,  no 
not  once,  proposed  new  expositions  of  faith,  save  when  some 

*  Test.  Georg.  Sch.  et  relat  Wisson.  in  Biblioth.  Anti-Trin.  Sand.  pp. 
191,  209.  t  lb. 


312  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

new  question  arose.  But  the  Reformation,  quite  on  the  con- 
trary, never  could  content  herself;  her  creeds  have  nothing  that 
is  certain  ;  the  decrees  of  her  synods  nothing  fixed  ;  her  con- 
fessions of  faith  are  confederacies  and  arbitrary  contracts  ;  what 
is  an  article  of  faith  amongst  them,  is  not  so  for  all,  nor  always 
— they  go  apart  by  caprice,  and  meet  again  by  policy.  When, 
therefore,  sects  arose  in  the  ancient  Church,  it  was  from  the 
common  and  inveterate  depravation  of  mankind  ;  and  when 
they  now  arise  in  the  Reformation,  it  is  from  the  novel  and  par- 
ticular constitution  of  the  Churches  she  has  modelled. 
125. — Jl  memorable  instance  of  Vanation  in  the  Protestant  Church  of  Strasburg. 
To  make  this  truth  the  more  apparent,  I  shall  choose  for  an 
example  the  Protestant  Church  of  Strasburg,  as  one  of  the  most 
learned  of  the  Reformation,  and  by  her  proposed,  ever  since  the 
beginning,  as  a  pattern  of  discipline  to  all  the  rest.  This  great 
city  was  one  of  the  first  that  fell  by  Luther's  preaching,  and  did 
not  think,  at  that  time,  of  disputing  the  Real  Presence.  All  the 
complaints  made  against  her  senate  were,  that  "  it  took  away 
images,  and  made  communion  be  given  in  both  kinds."*  It 
was  in  1523  that,  by  the  means  of  Bucer  and  Capito,  she  turned 
Zuinglian.  After  she  had  for  some  years  heard  their  invectives 
against  the  Mass,  without  wholly  abolishing  it,  and  without  a 
full  assurance  of  its  being  evil,  the  senate  decreed  "  it  should 
be  suspended  until  it  were  proved  a  worship  acceptable  to  God."t 
Here  is  a  new  provision  in  matter  of  faith  ;  and  though  I  had 
not  mentioned  that  this  decree  came  from  the  senate,  it  would 
easily  have  been  understood,  that  the  assembly  where  it  was 
made  had  nothing  in  it  that  was  ecclesiastical.  The  decree 
passed  in  1529.  The  same  year,  those  of  Strasburg,;];  having 
never  been  able  to  agree  with  the  Lutherans,  joined  in  a  league 
with  the  Swiss,  who  were  Zuinglians  like  themselves.  So  far 
did  they  carry  Zuinglius's  notion  and  their  hatred  of  the  Real 
Presence,  as  to  refuse  to  subscribe  the  Confession  of  Augsburg 
in  1530,§  and  to  make  themselves  a  particular  Confession, 
which  we  have  seen  under  the  name  of  the  Confession  of  Stras- 
burg, or  of  the  four  towns,  jj  The  very  next  year,ir  they  shuf- 
fled so  much,  and  with  so  much  art  on  this  subject,  as  to  get 
themselves  comprehended  in  the  league  of  Smalcald,  from 
which  the  rest  of  the  Sacramentarians  were  excluded.  But 
they  went  still  further  in  1536,  inasmuch  as  they  subscribed  the 
Wittemberg  agreement,  wherein,  as  we  have  seen,  was  con- 
fessed the  substantial  presence  and  the  communion  of  the  true 
body  and  true  blood  in  the  unworthy,  although  void  of  faith-** 

*  Sleid.  lib.  iv.  fol.  60.  f  Ibid.  lib.  vi.  fol.  93.  t  ^bid.  fol.  100. 

§  Ibid.  lib.  viiL  fol.  104.  H  S.  Ub.  iii.  n.  3.  IF  Sleid.  lib.  viii.  fol.  125. 

**  S.lib.  iv.  n.  23.    Hosp.  partii.  An.  1536. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  313 

Thereby  they  passed  over  insensibly  to  Luther's  sentiment,  and 
from  that  time  were  counted  among  the  defenders  of  the  Con- 
fession of  Augsburg  which  they  subscribed.  They  declared, 
nevertheless,  in  154S,*  that  this  was  without  departing  from 
their  first  Confession,  which,  although  formerly  it  had  made 
them  reject  that  of  Augsburg,  was  found  conformable  to  it  now. 
In  the  mean  time,  Strasburg  was  so  wedded  to  the  agreement 
of  Wittemberg  and  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,!  that  Peter 
Martyr  and  Zanchius,  the  two  greatest  men  at  that  time  of  the 
Sacramentarians,  were  forced  at  length  to  withdraw  from  that 
city ;  one  for  refusing  to  subscribe  the  agreement,  and  the  other 
for  having  subscribed  the  Confession  with  a  restriction  ;  so 
zealous  were  they  become  at  Strasburg  for  the  Real  Presence. 
In  1598,  this  city  subscribed  the  book  of  Concord;  and  after 
having  been  for  so  long  a  time  the  chief,  as  it  were,  of  those 
cities  that  opposed  the  Real  Presence,  she  stretched  her  Con- 
fession, in  spite  of  Sturmius,  to  the  prodigious  tenet  of  Ubi- 
quity."!  The  cities  of  Linden  and  Memmingon,  formerly 
her  associates  in  the  hatred  of  the  Real  Presence,  followed  this 
example.  §  At  this  time  the  ancient  Agenda  was  changed,  and 
Marbachius's  book  was  printed  at  Strasburg,  in  which  he  main- 
tained that  "  Jesus  Christ,  before  his  ascension,  was  in  Heaven, 
as  to  liis  humanity  ;  that  this  visible  ascension  was  nothing,  in 
reality,  but  an  appearance ;  that  the  Heaven  wherein  Jesus 
Christ's  humanity  was  received,  contained  not  only  God  and  all 
the  saints,  but  moreover  all  the  devils  and  all  the  damned  ;  and 
that  Jesus  Christ  was,  according  .to  his  human  nature,  not  only 
in  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Supper,  but  also  in  all  the  pots  and 
all  the  glasses."  To  these  extremities  were  men  driven,  when, 
forsaking  the  sure  guidance  of  Church  authority,  they  gave 
themselves  up  to  human  ooinions  like  to  a  changeable  and  im- 
petuous wind. 

126. — Constancy  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
If  now,  to  the  variations  and  giddiness  of  these  new  Churches, 
you  oppose  the  constancy  and  gravity  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
it  will  easily  be  judged  where  it  is  the  Holy  Ghost  presides  ; 
and  because  I  neither  can,  nor  ought  to  relate,  in  this  work,  all 
the  judgments  she  has  passed  in  matters  of  faith,  that  uniformity 
and  steadiness  I  commend  her  for,  shall  be  made  appear  in 
those  very  articles  wherein  we  have  seen  the  inconstancy  of 
our  Reformed. 

127. — Example  in  the  Q,uestio7i  moved  by  Berengarius  concerning  the  Real 

Presence. 

The  first  who  made  a  sect  in  the  Church,  and  dared  to  con- 

*  Hosp.  An.  1548.  fol.  203.  f  Ibid.  An.  1556  et  1563. 

X  Ibid.  Cone,  discors.  c.  Ivi.  p.  278.  §  Ibid.  Cone,  discors.  c.  Ivi.  fol.  99. 

VOL.  II.  27 


314  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

demn  her,  in  regard  to  the  Real  Presence,  was  unquestionably 
Berengarius.  What  our  adversaries  say  of  Ratramnus*  is 
nothing  less  than  a  certain  fact,  as  above  seen  ;  and,  though  it 
were  granted  that  Ratramnus  favored  them,  (which  is  false,) 
an  ambiguous  author,  by  all  of  them  made  to  speak  in  behalf 
of  their  several  opinions,  would  be  in  nowise  proper  to  make  a 
sect.  I  say  the  same  of  John  Scot,  whose  error  was  personal, 
and  had  no  continued  succession. 

128. — The  Clmrcli's  behaviour  in  regard  of  Innovators. 

The  Church  does  not  always  anathematize  rising  errors  ;  nor 
does  she  censure  them  as  long  as  there  are  hopes  they  will 
vanish  of  themselves  ;  nay,  often  fears  rendering  them  famous 
by  her  anathemas.  Thus  Artemon,  and  some  others  who  had 
denied  Jesus  Christ's  divinity  before  Paul  of  Samosata,  drew 
not  such  signal  condemnations  on  themselves  as  he  did,  they 
not  being  judged  capable  of  raising  a  sect.  As  for  Berenga- 
rius, certain  it  is  he  attacked  openly  the  faith  of  the  Church, 
and  had  disciples  of  his  own  name  like  other  heresiarchs,  al- 
though his  heresy  was  soon  extinguished. 

129. — Beginning  of  Berengarius'' s  Sect,  and  his  Condemnation. 

It  appeared  about  the  year  1030  ;  not  but  that  we  have  al- 
ready remarked,  some  years  before,  even  from  the  year  1017, 
the  Real  Presence  manifestly  impugned  by  the  heretics  of  Or- 
leans, who  were  Manicheans.f  Such  were  the  first  authors 
of  that  doctrine,  one  article  of  which  was  maintained  by  Beren- 
garius. But  as  that  sect  kept  concealed,  the  Church  was  sur- 
prised at  this  novelty,  yet  not  much  disturbed  with  it  at  that 
time.  It  was  against  Berengarius  that  the  first  decision  was 
made  on  this  subject  in  1052,  in  a  council  of  a  hundred  and 
thirteen  bishops  called  together  at  Rome  from  all  sides  by 
Nicholas  II. J  Berengarius  submitted  himself,  and  the  first 
who  made  a  sect  of  the  Sacramentarian  heresy,  was  the  first 
also  that  condemned  it. 

130. — First  Confession  of  Faith  required  of  Berengarius. 

No  one  is  ignorant  of  that  famous  Confession  of  Faith,  which 
begins  "  Ego  Berengarius,"  wh^e  this  Heresiarch  acknow- 
ledges, "  that  the  bread  and  the  wine  which  are  placed  on  the 
altar  after  consecration  are  not  only  the  sacrament,  but  also  the 
true  body  and  the  true  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  are 
sensibly  touched  by  the  hands  of  the  priest,  broken  and  bruised 
between  the  teeth  of  the  faithful,  not  only  in  sacrament,  but  in 
truth." 

There  we're  none  but  understood,  that  the  body  and  blood  of 

*  S.  lib.  iv.  n.  32.  f  S.  lib.  xi.  n.  17,  et  seq. 

\  Concil.  Rom.  sub  Nic.  II.  An.  1059.  t.  ix.  Con.  Lab.  Guit.  lib.iii.  t.  xviii. 
Bib.  PP.  Max.  p.  462,  &c. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  315 

Jesus  Christ  was  broken  in  the  Eucharist,  in  the  same  sense 
that  we  say  a  man  is  torn,  he  is  v/et,  when  the  clothes  he  actu- 
ally wears  are  torn  or  wet.  When  his  clothes  are  not  on  him, 
we  use  not  the  same  way  of  speaking :  so  that  the  meaning- 
was,  that  Jesus  Christ  was  as  truly  under  the  species,  which 
are  broken  and  eaten,  as  we  are  truly  in  the  clothes  we  wear. 
It  was  said,  moreover,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  sensibly  received 
and  touched,  because  he  is  in  person  and  in  substance  under 
the  sensible  species  which  are  touched  and  received  ;  and  all 
this  imported  that  Jesus  Christ  is  received  and  eaten,  not  in  his 
proper  species  and  under  the  exterior  of  man,  but  under  a  fo- 
reign species,  and  under  the  exterior  of  bread  and  wine.  And 
if  the  Church  said  also,  in  a  certain  sense,  that  the  body  of  Je- 
sus Christ  is  broken,  it  was  not  from  her  being  ignorant  that,  in 
another  sense,  it  was  not  so  :  just  as  when  saying,  in  a  certain 
sense,  we  are  torn  and  wet  when  our  clothes  are  so ;  we  are 
still  sensible,  at  the  same  time,  that,  in  another  sense,  we  are 
neither  one  nor  the  other,  as  to  our  persons.  Thus  the  Fathers 
justly  said  to  Berengarius  what  we  still  say,*  "  that  the  body 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  all  entire  in  the  whole  Sacrament,  and  all 
entire  in  every  particle  thereof;  everywhere  the  same  Jesus 
Christ  always  entire,  inviolable  and  indivisible,  communicating 
himself  without  dividing  himself,  as  the  word  to  a  whole  audi- 
ence, and  as  our  soul  to  all  our  members."  But  what  obliged 
the  Church  to  say,  after  many  Fathers,  and  after  St.  Chrysos- 
tom,  that  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  broken,  was,  that  Beren- 
garius, under  pretext  of  doing  honor  to  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
was  accustomed  to  say,|  "  God  forbid  that  man  may  break  with 
the  tooth  or  divide  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  same  manner  as  we  put 
under  the  tooth,  and  divide  these  things,"  namely,  the  bread 
and  wine.  The  Church,  which  always  took  care  to  combat  in 
heretics  the  most  precise  and  strongest  words  they  made  use 
of  to  explain  their  error,  opposed  against  Berengarius  the  con- 
tradictory of  that  proposition  he  had  advanced,  and  placed  in 
some  manner  the  Real  Presence  under  the  eyes  of  Christians, 
by  saying  to  them  what  they  received  in  the  sacrament,  after 
consecration,  was  as  really  the  body  and  the  blood,  as  before 
consecration  it  was  really  bread  and  wine. 

131. — Berengarius'' s  second  Confession  of  Faith,  where  the  change  of  Substance 
is  more  clearly  explained,  and  why. 

Besides,  when  the  faithful  were  told  that  the  bread  and  wine 
of  the  Eucharist  were  in  truth  the  body  and  the  blood,  they  were 
accustomed  to  understand,  not  that  they  were  so  by  their  na- 
ture, but  became  such  by  the  consecration,  so  that  the  change 

*  Guit.  lib.  i.  adv.  Beren.  Bib.  PP.  t.  xviii.  pp.  443,  449. 
t  Ber.  apud  Guit.  Ibid.  p.  441. 


316  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

of  substance  was  contained  in  that  expression,  although  what 
principally  was  aimed  at  by  it,  was  to  render  the  presence  sensi- 
ble, which  likewise  was  principally  impugned.  Some  while  after  it 
was  perceptible  that  Berengarius  and  his  disciples  varied.  For 
we  learn  fro.n  authors  of  those  times*  that,  in  the  course  of  the 
dispute,  they  acknowledged  in  the  Eucharist  the  substance  of 
the  body  and  blood,  but  with  that  of  bread  and  wine,  employing 
even  the  term  of  impanation  and  that  of  invination,  and  assert- 
ing that  Jesus  Christ  was,  as  I  may  say,  impanate  in  the  Eu- 
charist, as  he  became  incarnate  in  the  Virgin's  womb.  This, 
says  Guitmoadus,|  was  as  a  last  entrenchment  to  Berengarius; 
nor  was  it  Vvithout  difficulty  that  this  subtlety  of  the  sect  was 
discovered.  But  the  Church,  which  always  follows  heretics 
step  by  step  to  condemn  their  errors  as  they  disclose  them, 
after  havinsr  so  well  established  the  Real  Presence  in  Beren- 
garius's  first  Confession  of  Faith,  proposed  also  another  to  him, 
in  which  the  change  of  substance  was  expressed  more  distinctly. 
He  confessed,  therefore,  under  Gregory  VII.,  in  a  Council 
held  at  Rome,J  which  was  the  sixth  held  under  that  Pope  in 
1079,  "  That  the  bread  and  wine,  which  are  placed  on  the  altar, 
by  the  mystery  of  holy  prayer  and  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ, 
are  substantially  changed  into  the  true,  life-giving,  and  proper 
flesh  of  Jesus  Christ,  &c."  And  the  same  is  said  of  the  blood. 
It  is  specified  that  the  body  here  received  "  is  the  same  that 
was  born  of  the  Virgin,  that  was  nailed  to  the  cross,  that  is 
seated  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  and  the  blood  is  the  same 
that  flowed  from  his  side  ;"  and  in  order  that  no  room  might  be 
left  for  equivocation,  whereby  heretics  delude  mankind,  it  is 
added,  this  is  done  "  not  in  sign  and  in  virtue  by  a  simple  sacra- 
ment, but  in  the  propriety  of  nature  and  the  truth  of  substance." 
132. — The  change  of  Substance  was  opposed  to  Berengarius  from  the  beginning, 

Berengarius  again  subscribed^  and  this  second  time  con- 
demned himself;  but  he  was  now  so  hampered,  that  no  room 
for  equivocation  was  left  him,  no  subterfuge  for  his  error.  And 
if  the  change  of  substance  was  here  insisted  on  more  precisely, 
it  was  not  that  the  Church  hac'  before  in  the  least  doubted  of  it, 
since,  from  the  beginning  of  the  dispute  against  Berengarius, 
Hugo  of  Langres  had  said,§  "  that  the  bread  and  wine  did  not 
remain  in  their  first  nature,  but  pass  into  another ;  that  they 
were  changed  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  against  which  Berengarius  opposed  him- 
self in  vain."     And  as  soon  as  ever  this  heretic  had  declared 

*  Guit.  ante  pp.  441,  442,  462,  463,  464.  Alg.  de  Sac.  Corp.  et  Sang. 
Fraef.  t.  xxi.  p.  251. 

t  Ibid.       X  Cone.  Rom.  vi.  sub  Greg.  VII.  t.  x.  Cone.  Lab.  An.  1079. 
§  Bib.  PP.  Max.  t.  xviii.  p.  417. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  317 

himself,  Adelman,  Bishop  of  Bresse,  his  schoolfellow,  and  the 
first  discoverer  of  his  error,  warned  him,*  "  that  he  stood  in  op- 
position to  the  sense  of  the  whole  Catholic  Church,  and  that  it 
was  as  easy  for  Jesus  Christ  to  change  the  bread  into  his  body, 
as  to  change  water  into  wine,  and  create  hght  by  his  word 
alone."  It  was,  therefore,  a  constant  doctrine  of  the  universal 
Church,  not  that  the  bread  and  wine  contained  the  body  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  that  they  became  his  body  and  blood 
by  a  change  of  substance. 

133. — A  certain  fact,  that  the  Faith  opposed  to  Berengarius  was  that  of  the 
lohole  Church  and  of  all  Christians. 

Nor  was  it  Adelman  only  that  reproached  Berengarius  with 
the  novelty  and  singularity  of  his  doctrine  ;  all  authors  unani- 
mously upbraid  him  as  with  a  certain  fact,  that  the  faith  he 
impugned  was  that  of  the  whole  universe  ;  that  he  scandalized 
the  whole  Church  by  the  novelty  of  his  doctrine  ;  that  to  come 
over  to  his  faith,  it  was  necessary  to  believe  there  was  no  such 
thmg  as  a  Church  on  earth ;  that  there  was  not  so  much  as  one 
town,  no,  not  one  village  of  his  opinion ;  that  the  Greeks,  the 
Armenians,  in  a  word,  all  Christians  had,  in  this  regard,  the 
same  faith  with  those  of  the  west ;  so  that  nothing  could  be 
more  ridiculous  than  to  censure,  as  incredible,  what  was  be- 
lieved by  the  whole  world.  Nor  did  Berengarius  deny  this 
fact,  but,  like  all  heretics,  answered  disdainfully,  that  wise  men 
ought  not  to  follow  "  the  sentiments,  or  rather  the  follies,  of  the 
vulgar."  But  Lanfranc  and  the  rest  of  them  remonstrated, 
that  what  he  called  the  vulgar,  was  the  whole  clergy  and  all 
the  people  of  the  universe ;  and  upon  the  certainty  of  this  fact, 
wherein  he  feared  no  contradiction,  he  concluded,  that  if  Be- 
rengarius's  doctrine  were  true,  "  the  inheritance  promised  to 
Jesus  Christ  was  made  void,  and  his  promises  annihilated :" 
lastly,  that  "  the  Catholic  Church  was  no  more,  and,  if  she  was 
no  more,  she  never  had  been."! 

134. — Ml  Innovators  always  find  the  Church  iu  a  full  and  constant  possession 
of  that  Doctrine  they  attack. 

A  remarkable  fact  likewise  may  be  here  observed  ;   namely, 

that  Berengarius,  like  all  other  heretics,  found  the  Church  firm 

and  universally  united  in  the  dogma  which  he  impugned  ;  this 

is  what  has  always  happened  in  like  cases.     Of  all  the  dogmas 

which  we  believe,  not  so  much  as  one  can  be  named,  which 

was  not  found  invincibly  and  universally  estabhshed  when  the 

contrary  dogma  began  to  make  a  sect ;  and  wherein  the  Church 

has  not  remained,  if  possible,  still  more  fixed  from  that  very 

*  Bib.  PP.  Max.  t.  xviii.  pp.  438,  439.  f  A  seel.  Ep.  ad  Ber.  Guit.  Ibid, 
lib.  iii.  pp.  462,  463.  Lanfranc  de  Corp,  et  Sang.  Dom,  Ibid.  c.  ii.  iv.  v.  xxii. 
pp.  7G5,  766,  776.  Ibid.  c.  iv.  p.  765.  Ibid.  c.  xxii.  p.  776. 

VOL.  II.  27* 


318  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

time,  a  thing  alone  sufficient  to  make  palpable  the  perpetual 
succession  and  immutability  of  her  faith. 

135. — There  was  no  need  of  an  universal  Coun-cil  against  Berengarins. 
There  was  not  more  necessity  for  convening  an  universal 
council  against  Berengarius  than  against  Pelagius ;  the  decisions 
of  the  holy  See,  and  of  the  Councils  then  held,  were  unani- 
mously received  by  the  whole  Church,  and  the  heresy  of  Beren- 
garius, quickly  crushed,  found  no  longer  any  sanctuary  but  with 
the  Manicheans. 

136. — Decision  of  the  great  Council  of  Lateran. — The  xoord  Transuhstantia- 
tion  pitched  upon,  and  why. 

It  has  been  seen  in  what  manner  these  Manicheans  began  to 
spread  themselves  all  over  the  west,  filling  it  with  their  blas- 
phemies against  the  Real  Presence,  and  at  the  same  time,  with 
their  equivocating  language,  on  purpose  to  conceal  themselves 
from  the  Church,  whose  assemblies  they  were  determined  to 
frequent.*     In   order,  therefore,  that   she  might  defeat  these 
equivocations,  the  Church  thought  herself  obliged  to  employ 
some  precise  terms,  as  she  had  done  formerly  with  so  much 
advantage  against  the  Arians  and  Nestorians,  which  she  did  in 
this  manner  under  Innocent  III.,  in  the  great  council  of  Late- 
ran in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1215.1     "  There  is  one  only  uni- 
versal Church  of  the  faithful  out  of  which  there  is  no  salvation, 
in  which  Jesus  Christ  is  himself  the  sacrificer  and  the  victim, 
whose  body  and  blood  are  truly  contained  under  the  species  of 
bread  and  wine  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  altar,  the  bread  and 
wine  being  transubstantiated,  one  into  the  body,  and  the  other 
into  the  blood  of  our  Lord  by  the  divine  power,  to  the  end  that, 
for  accomplishing  the  mystery  of  unity,  we  should  take  of  his 
what  he  himself  took  of  ours."     There  is  no  one  who  does  not 
see,  that  this  new  word  transubstantiation  here  employed,  with- 
out adding  any  thing  to  the  idea  of  a  change  of  substance  which 
we  have  seen  already  owned  against  Berengarius,  did  but  de- 
clare it  by  an  expression,  the  bare  signification  of  which  served 
for  a  mark  to  the  faithful  against  the  subtilties  and  equivoca- 
tions of  heretics,  as  did  heretofore  the  Homoousion  of  Nice, 
and  the  Theotocos  of  Ephesus.     Such  was  the  decision  of  the 
council  of  Lateran,  the  greatest  and  the  most  numerous  that 
ever  had  been  held,  its  authority  being  so  great,  that  posterity 
has  called  it,  by  excellence,  the  General  Council. 

Vol. — The  plainness  of  the  Decisions  of  the  Church. 

By  these  decisions  may  be  seen,  with  what  brevity,  with  what 

precision,  with  what  uniformity,  the  Church  explains  herself. 

Heretics,  always  in  search  after  their  faith,  walk  groping  in  the 

dark,  and  vary.     The  Church,  which  always  carries  her  faith 

♦  S.  1^  xi.  n.  31,  32,  &c.  f  Cone.  Lat.  iv.  t.  xi.  Cone.  Lab.  p.  143. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  319 

entirely  formed  in  her  heart,  seeks  only  to  explain  it  without 
intricacy  and  ambiguity ;  for  which  reason  her  decisions  are 
never  clogged  with  a  multiplicity  of  words.  Besides,  as  she 
beholds  without  surprise  the  most  sublime  ditiiculties,  she  pro- 
poses them  without  reserve,  convinced  that  she  shall  always  find 
in  her  children  a  mind  ready  to  captivate  itself,  and  a  docility 
capable  of  the  whole  weight  of  the  divine  mystery.  Heretics, 
who  seek  to  indulge  human  sense  and  the  animal  part  unsuscep- 
tible of  the  divine  secret,  take  great  pains  to  bend  the  Scripture 
to  their  taste  and  fancy.  On  the  contrary,  the  Church  only 
thinks  of  taking  it  in  its  plain  sense.  She  hears  our  Saviour 
say,  "  This  is  my  body,"  and  cannot  apprehend  that  what  he 
calls  "body"'  so  absolutely,  should  be  anything  else  than  the 
body  itself;  wherefore  she  believes  without  difficulty,  that  it  is 
the  body  in  substance,  because  the  body  in  substance  is  nothing 
else  but  the  true  and  proper  body  :  thus  the  word  substance  en- 
ters naturally  into  her  expressions.  But  then  Berengarius  never 
thought  of  using  that  word  ;  and  Calvin,  who  used  it,  though 
agreeing  in  the  main  with  Berengarius,  has  thereby  made  it  but 
manifest,  that  the  figure  which  Berengarius  admitted,  did  not 
answer  the  whole  expectation,  nor  the  whole  idea  of  a  Christian. 

The  same  simplicity,  which  made  the  Church  believe  the  body 
present  in  the  Sacrament,  has  made  her  believe  that  it  was  the 
whole  substance  of  it,  Jesus  Christ  not  having  said,  "  My  body 
is  here,"  but  "  This  is  it ;"  and  as  it  is  not  so  by  its  nature,  it 
becomes,  and  is  made  so  by  the  divine  power.  This  is  what 
imports  a  conversion,  a  transformation,  a  change  ;  a  word  so 
natural  to  this  mystery,  that  it  could  not  fail  taking  place  in  Be- 
rengarius's*case,  and  the  more  so,  as  it  was  everywhere  already 
found  in  the  Liturgies  and  Fathers. 

138. — Decision  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

These  reasons,  so  plain  and  natural,  were  opposed  to  Beren- 
garius. We  have  no  other,  even  at  this  day,  to  oppose  against 
Calvin  and  Zuinghus  :  we  have  received  them  from  Catholics 
that  wrote  against  Berengarius,  as  they  had  received  them  from 
those  who  preceded  them  ;  nor  has  the  Council  of  Trent  added 
anything  to  the  decisions  of  our  forefathers,  unless  what  was 
necessary  for  a  further  elucidation  of  what  Protestants  studied 
to  perplex  and  darken,  as  will  easily  be  perceived  by  those  who 
have  the  least  knowledge  of  the  history  of  our  controversies.* 

But  it  was  necessary,  for  instance,  to  explain  more  distinctly, 
that  Jesus  Christ  rendered  himself  present,  not  only  in  the 
actual  use  of  the  Sacrament,  as  is  the  opinion  of  the  Lutherans,! 
but  immediately  after  the  Consecration,  because  it  is  not  there 

*  Dur.  Troarn.  t.  xviii.  Bib.  PP.  p.  422.  Guit.  Ibid.  462,  &c. 

t  S.  n.  131.  S.  1.  iii.  n.  51,  et  seq.  as  far  as  56  5  1.  vi.  n.  26,  31,  et  seq. 


320  THE    HISTORY    OF  "  [BOOK 

said  "  This  shall  be,"  but  "  This  is  ;"  which,  nevertheless,  was, 
in  the  main,  what  had  been  formerly  said  against  Berengarius 
wheii  the  presence  was  annexed,  not  to  the  manducation,  or  to 
the  iaith  of  him  who  received  the  Sacrament,  but  to  the  "  sacred 
prayer  and  the  word  of  our  Saviour  ;"  whereby  also  did  appear, 
not  the  adoration  only,  but  likewise  the  truth  of  the  oblation  and 
sacrifice,  as  we  have  seen  confessed  by  the  Protestants  :*  so 
that,  in  the  end,  there  remains  no  difficulty  but  in  the  Real  Pre- 
sence, wherein  we  have  the  advantage  to  discover,  that  those 
even  who  in  fact  depart  from  our  doctrine,  do  always  endeavor 
(so  sacred  is  it !)  to  draw  as  near  to  it  as  they  are  able. 

139. — Reason  for  the  Decision  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  touching  Com- 
munion under  one  kind. 

The  decision  of  Constance,  in  approbation  of  and  for  retain- 
ing communion  under  one  kind,  is  one  of  those,  wherein  our 
adversaries  think  they  have  the  most  advantage.  But  in  order 
to  be  convinced  of  the  gravity  and  constancy  of  the  Church  in 
this  decree,  we  need  but  remember  that  the  Council  of  Con- 
stan>  e,!  when  they  passed  it,  had  found  the  custom  of  commu- 
nicating under  one  kind  established,  beyond  contradiction,  many 
ages  before.  The  case  was  much  the  same  with  that  of  Bap- 
tism by  immersion,  as  clearly  grounded  on  Scripture  as  com- 
munion under  both  kinds  could  be,  and  which,  nevertheless,  had 
been  changed  into  infusion,  with  as  much  ease  and  as  little  con- 
tradiction, as  communion  under  one  kind  was  established ;  so 
that  the  same  reason  stood  for  retaining  one  as  the  other. 
140. — Reasons  determining  the  maintenance  of  the  ancient  cxistojn. 

It  is  a  fact  most  certainly  avowed  in  the  Reformation,  although 
at  present  some  will  cavil  at  it,  that  Baptism  was  instituted  by 
immersing  the  whole  body  into  water;  that  Jesus  Christ  re- 
ceived it  so,  and  caused  it  to  be  so  given  by  his  Apostles  ;  that 
the  Scripture  knows  no  other  Baptism  than  this  ;  that  antiquity 
so  understood  and  practised  it ;  that  the  word  itself  imphes  it, 
to  bp.ptize  being  the  same  as  to  dip  :  this  fact,  I  say,  is  unani- 
mously acknowledged  by  all  the  Divines  of  the  Reformation, 
nay,  by  the  Reformers  themselves,  and  those  even  who  best 
und«  rstood  the  Greek  language  and  the  ancient  customs  as  well 
of  the  Jews  as  Christians  ;  by  Luther,  by  Melancthon,  by  Cal- 
vin, by  Casaubon,  by  Grotius,  by  all  the  rest,  and  lately  even  by 
Jurieu,  the  most  contradicting  of  all  ministers.  J  Nay,  Luther 
has  observed,  that  the  German  word  signifying  Baptism  was 
derived  from  thence,  and  this  Sacrament  named  Tauf,  from  pro- 
fundity or  depth,  because  the  baptized  were  deeply  plunged  into 

*  S.  1.  ix.  n.  26,  27,  28,  et  seq.  as  far  as  n.  75.     f  Cone.  Const.  Sess.  viii. 

X  Luth.  de  Sacr.  Bapt.  t.  i.  Mel.  loc.  coin.  c.  de  Baptist.  Cal.  Inst.  iv.  15,  19, 

&c.    Casau.  not.  in  Matt.  iii.  6.  Grot.  Ep.  336.  Jur,  Syst.  1.  iil  ch.  xx.  p.  583. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  321 

water.  If,  then,  any  fact  in  the  world  can  be  deemed  certain, 
it  is  this  same  :  but  it  is  not  less  certain,  even  by  all  these  au- 
thors, that  Baptism  without  immersion  is  valid,  and  that  the 
Church  is  in  the  right  to  retain  the  custom.  It  is  therefore 
plain,  in  a  parallel  fact,  what  ought  to  be  our  judgment  as  to 
the  decree  of  communion  under  one  kind,  and  that  all  which  is 
opposed  against  it,  is  nothing  but  chicane. 

And,  indeed,  if  there  was  reason  to  maintain  Baptism  with- 
out immersion,  because,  in  rejecting  it,  it  would  follow,  there 
had  been  no  such  thing  as  Baptism  for  many  ages,  consequently, 
no  such  thing  as  a  Church,  it  being  impossible  for  the  Church 
to  subsist  without  the  substance  of  the  Sacraments  ;  no  less 
impossible  was  it,  without  the  substance  of  the  Supper.  The 
same  reason,  then,  subsisted  for  maintaining  communion  under 
one  kind,  as  for  maintaining  Baptism  by  infusion ;  and  the 
Church,  in  maintaining  these  two  practices  which  tradition 
showed  equally  indifferent,  did  nothing  else  but,  according  to 
custom,  maintain  against  contentious  spirits  that  authority, 
whereon  the  faith  of  the  people  reposed. 

Whoever  desires  to  see  more  on  this  subject,  may  turn  back 
to  those  places  of  this  history  where  it  is  handled,  and  among 
others,  to  those  where  may  be  seen,  that  communion  under  one 
kind  was  settled  with  so  little  contradiction,  that  it  was  not  im- 
pugned by  the  greatest  enemies  of  the  Church,  not  even  by 
Luther,  at  the  beginning.* 

141. — (Question  about  Justification. 

Next  to  the  question  of  the  Eucharist,  the  principal  one  of 
our  controversies  is  that  of  justification,  in  relation  to  which  the 
gravity  of  the  decisions  of  the  Church  may  be  easily  under- 
stood, in  that  she  did  but  repeat  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  what 
the  Fathers  and  St.  Austin  had  decided  formerly,  when  this 
question  was  debated  with  the  Pelagians. 

142. — Inherent   justice  acknowledged    on  both  sides. — Consequence  of   this 

Doctrine. 

And,  in  the  first  place,  it  must  be  supposed  that  there  is  no 
question  between  us,  whether  or  not  a  sanctity  and  justice  in- 
fused into  the  soul  by  the  Holy  Ghost  should  be  acknowledged 
in  man  justified  ;  for  the  qualities  and  infused  habits  are,  as 
above  seen,  confessed  by  the  Synod  of  Dort.l  The  Lutherans 
are  no  less  steady  in  defending  them  ;  and,  in  a  word,  all  Pro- 
testants are  agreed,  that  by  the  regeneration  and  sanctification 
of  the  new  man,  a  sanctity  and  justice  is  formed  in  him  hke  a 
permanent  habit :  the  question  is,  whether  this  sanctity  and  this 
justice  be  what  justifies  us  in  the  sight  of  God.     But  where  is 

*  S.  1.  ii.  10.  iii.  60,  61,  et  seq.  vii.  67.  xi.  106.  xiv.  114,  115.  S.  n.  43.  61, 
t  S.  1.  xiv.  n.  43. 


322  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

the  difficulty  of  this?  A  sanctity  which  does  not  make  us 
saints,  a  justice  which  does  not  make  us  just,  were  a  subtlety 
quite  unintelligible.  But  a  sanctity  and  justice  formed  in  us  by 
Almighty  God,  and  yet  not  pleasing  to  him  ;  or,  if  agreeable  to 
him,  not  making  that  person  in  whom  it  is  found  agreeable  to 
him,  would  be  another  nicety  still  more  unworthy  the  sincerity 
of  a  Christian. 

J  43. — y/je  Church  in  the  Council  of  Trent  does  but  repeat  her  ancient  Decisions 
touching  the  notion  of  justifying  Grace. 

But,  afterall,  when  the  Church  defined  in  the  Council  of  Trent, 
that  remission  of  sins  was  given  us,  not  by  a  simple  imputation  of 
the  justice  of  Jesus  Christ  outwardly,  but  by  a  regeneration  which 
charges  and  renews  us  inwardly  ;  she  did  but  repeat  what  for- 
merly she  had  defined  against  the  Pelagians  in  the  Council  of 
Cartilage,  "  that  children  are  truly  baptized  in  the  remission  of 
sins,  to  the  end  that  regeneration  should  purify  in  them  the  sin 
which  they  contracted  by  generation."* 

Conformably  to  these  principles,  the  same  Council  of  Car- 
thagej*  understands  by  "  justifying  grace,  not  only  that  which 
remits  to  us  sins  committed,  but  that  also  which  assists  us  to 
cominit  them  no  more,"'  not  only  by  enlightening  our  minds,  but 
also  by  inspiring  charity  into  our  hearts,  to  the  end,  that  "  we 
might  fulfil  God's  commandments."  Now,  the  grace  which 
works  these  things  is  not  a  simple  imputation,  but  is  also  an 
emanation  of  the  justice  of  Jesus  Christ :  wherefore  justifying 
grace  is  a  different  thing  from  such  an  imputation  ;  and  what  was 
said  in  the  Council  of  Trent  is  nothing  but  a  repetition  of  the 
Council  of  Carthage,  whose  decrees  appeared  by  so  much  the 
more  inviolable  to  the  Fathers  at  Trent,  as  the  Fathers  of  Car- 
thage were  sensible,  in  proposing  them,  they  proposed  nothing 
else  on  this  subject,  but  what  "  had  always  been  approved  of  in 
the  Catholic  Church  spread  over  the  entire  earth. "J 
144. — Touching  gratuity. 

Our  forefathers,  therefore,  did  not  believe,  in  order  to  destroy 
human  glory  and  attribute  all  to  Jesus  Christ,  that  it  was  neces- 
sary, either  to  take  from  man  that  justice  which  was  in  him,  or 
to  diminish  the  value,  or  deny  the  effect  thereof ;  but  beheved 
they  ought  to  acknowledge  it  as  proceeding  from  God  only  by  a 
gratuitous  bounty,  and  this  also  was  what  the  Fathers  of  Trent 
acknowledged  after  them,  as  above  seen  in  many  places  of  this 
work.  § 

It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  Catholic  Church  had  always  con- 
fessed after  St.  Paul,  that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  made  unto  us  wis- 
dom," ||   not  by  simply  imputing  to  us  that  wisdom  which  is  in 

*  Cone.  Carth.  cap.  i.  f  Ibid.  cap.  iii.  iv.  ▼.  f  Ibid.  c.  iv. 

§  S.  I.  iii.  n.  20,  et  seq.  ||  1  Cor.  I  29,  30,  31. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  323 

him,  but  by  infusing  into  our  souls  that  wisdom  which  flows  from 
his  ;  that  he  is  "  unto  us  justice  and  sanctity,"  in  the  same  sense 
that  he  is  redemption,  not  by  covering  our  crimes  only,  bi;t  by 
defacing  them  entirely  by  his  Holy  Spirit  poured  into  our  hearts  : 
moreover,  that  we  are  "  made  the  justice  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ,"*  in  a  manner  more  intimate  than  Jesus  Christ  '^  had 
been  made  to  be  sin  for  us,  since  God  had  made  him  sin,"  to 
wit,  the  victim  for  sin,  by  treating  him  as  a  sinner  though  he 
were  just ;  whereas,  he  "  had  made  us  the  justice  of  God  in 
him,"  not  by  leaving  us  our  sins,  and  merely  treating  us  as  just 
men,  but  by  taking  from  us  our  sins,  and  by  rendering  us  just. 

145. — Touching  the  preparations  to  Grace,  that  they  all  proceed  from  Grace. 
In  order  to  make  this  grace  inherent  in  us  absolutely  gratui- 
tous, our  forefathers  did  not  believe  that  it  was  necessary  to  say, 
one  cannot  dispose  himself  for  them  by  good  desires,  nor  ob- 
tain them  by  prayers ;  but  they  believed  these  good  desires  and 
prayers  were  themselves  inspired  of  God  ;  and  this  is  what  the 
Council  of  Trentj"  has  done  after  their  example,  when  it  said, 
that  all  our  good  dispositions  came  "  from  a  preventing  grace  ;" 
that  we  could  not  "  dispose  and  prepare  ourselves"  for  grace, 
but  as  we  are  "  excited  and  assisted  by  grace  itself;"  that  God 
is  the  source  of  all  justice,  and  in  this  quality  ought  to  be  be- 
loved ;  and  that  there  was  "  no  believing,  hoping,  loving,  nor 
repenting  as  we  ought,  so  that  the  grace  of  justification  nJght 
be  conferred  upon  us,  without  a  preventing  inspiration  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."J  Wherein  this  Holy  Council  has  done  no  more 
than  repeat  what  we  read  in  the  Council  of  Orange, §  viz.  "  that 
we  can  neither  will,  nor  believe,  nor  think,  nor  love  as  we  ought 
to  do,  and  advantageously,  but  by  the  inspiration  of  preventing 
grace  ;"  that  is  to  say,  they  would  not  dispute  either  against 
heretics,  or  against  infidels,  or  even  against  heathens,  or,  in 
a  word,  against  any  others  who  imagine  they  love  God,  and 
who  feel  in  effect  inclinations  so  like  to  those  of  the  faithful : 
but,  without  entering  with  them  into  an  impossible  discussion  of 
the  precise  differences  of  their  sentiments  from  those  of  the 
just,  they  were  satisfied  with  defining,  that  what  is  performed 
without  grace,  is  not  "  as  it  ought  to  be,"  nor  agreeable  to  God, 
since  "  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  him."|| 

148. — Touching  the  necessity  of  preserving  Free-will  together  with  Grace. 
If  the  Council  of  Trent,  in  defending  the  grace  of  God,  hath, 
at  the  same  time,  maintained  Free-will,  this  also  was  a  faithful 
repetition  of  the  sentiments  of  our  forefathers,  when  they  de- 
fined, against  the  Pelagians,  "  that  grace  destroyed  not  free-will, 
but  set  it  at  liberty,  to  the  end  that,  of  being  darkened  it  might 

♦  2  Cor.  V.  21.     t  Sess.  vi.  c.  v.  vi.     \  Can.  i.      §  Con.  Ara.  ii.  c.  6,  7,  25. 

11  Heb.  xi.  G. 


324  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

become  full  of  light  ;  of  sick,  healthy  ;  of  depraved,  upright  ; 
of  imprudent,  provident  and  wise  ;"*  for  which  reason  the  grace 
of  God  was  called  "  an  aid  and  a  succor  of  the  free-will ;" 
consequently,  something  which,  far  from  destroying,  conserved 
and  perfected  it. 

147. — Touching  the  merit  of  good-works. 

According  to  so  pure  a  notion,  far  from  fearing  the  word 
merit,  which  indeed  naturally  expressed  the  dignity  of  good- 
works,  our  Fathers  maintained  it  against  the  remnant  of  Pela- 
gians in  the  same  Council  of  Orange,"]*  by  these  words  repeated 
in  that  of  Trent,  J  "  the  goodness  of  God  is  so  great  to  all  man- 
kind, that  what  he  gives  us,  he  will  even  have  to  be  our  merit ;" 
from  whence  it  follows,  as  likewise  the  same  Fathers  of  the 
Council  of  Orange§  have  decided,  "  that  all  the  works  and  merits 
of  the  saints  ought  to  be  referred  to  God's  glory,  because 
none  can  please  him  except  by  the  things  which  he  has  given." 

Lastly,  if  at  Trent  they  did  not  fear  to  acknowledge,  with  a 
holy  confidence,  that  eternal  recompense  is  due  to  good-works, 
it  is  still  in  conformity  with,  and  on  the  same  principles  that  our 
Fathers  had  said  in  the  Council  of  Orange, |j  "  that  merits  do 
not  prevent  grace,  and  that  recompense  is  only  due  to  good-works 
on  account  that  grace,  which  was  not  due,  did  not  precede  them." 

148. — Touching  the  fulfilling  of  GocPs  commandments. 

By  this  means  we  find  in  the  Christian  a  true  justice,  but 
which  is  given  him  by  God  together  with  his  love,  and  which 
accordingly  makes  him  accomplish  his  commandments,  wherein 
the  Council  of  TrentlT  likewise  does  not  but  follow  that  rule  of 
the  Fathers  of  Orange  :  viz.,  "  after  having  received  grace  by 
baptism,  all  the  baptized,  "uith  the  grace  and  co-operation  of  Je- 
sus Christ,  can  and  ought  to  fulfil  what  appertains  to  salvation, 
if  they  will  labor  faithfully  ;"  where  these  Fathers  have  united 
Jesus  Christ's  co-operating  grace  with  man's  labor  and  faith- 
ful correspondence,  agreeably  to  that  saying  of  St.  Paul,  "  Yet 
not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  with  me."** 

149. — Touching  the  Truth,  and,  withal,  the  imperfection  of  our  Justice. 

Notwithstanding  this  opinion  which  we  have  of  Christian 
justice,  yet  we  do  not  beheve  that  it  is  perfect  and  wholly  irrepre- 
hensible,  since  we  place  the  principal  part  thereof  in  continu- 
ally demanding  the  forgiveness  of  sins  :  and  if  we  beheve  these 
sins,  whereof  the  most  just  are  obliged  daily  to  implore  forgive- 
ness, do  not  hinder  them  from  being  truly  just,  the  Council  of 
Trent  has  moreover  taken  this  so  necessary  a  decision  from  the 
Council  of  Carthage,  which  declares|"j'  "  that  the  saints  are  they 

*  Auct.  sed.  Apost  de  grat.  inter  dec.  Ccelest.  P  P.  f  Cone.  Ara.  |:Conc. 
Trid.  Sess.  vi.  16.  §  Cone.  Ara.  v.  ||  Ibid.  c.  xviii.  fl  Cone.  Trid.  Sess. 
vi.  can,  11.  can.  18.  cap.  xxv.  **  1  Cor.  xv.  10.  ff  Cap.  vii.  viii. 


XV,]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  325 

who  say  humbly  and  truly  at  the  same  time,  '  forgive  us  our 
trespasses  ;'  that  the  apostle  St.  James,  although  holy  and  just, 
said,  nevertheless,  'we  all  offend  in  many  things:'  that  Daniel 
also,  though  holy  and  just,  yet  did  say,  *  we  have  sinned.' " 
Whence  it  follows  that  such  sins  hinder  not  holiness  and  justice, 
because  they  hinder  not  the  love  of  God  from  reigning  in  our 
hearts. 

150. — God  accepts  our  good  loorks  for  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Now,  if  the  Council  of  Carthage,  on  account  of  these  sins, 
will  have  us  continually  say  to  God,  "  Enter  not  into  judg- 
ment with  thy  servant,  for  no  man  living  shall  be  justified  in  thy 
sight  ;"*  we  understand  this,  as  does  that  Council,  of  perfect 
justice,  without  excluding  from  the  just  man  a  true  justice  ; 
acknowledging,  nevertheless,  that  it  is  also  by  an  effect  of  a 
gratuitous  bounty,  and  for  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  God, 
who  could  have  set  at  as  high  a  price  as  he  pleased,  to  con- 
demned persons  as  we  were,  so  great  a  good  as  life  eternal,  did 
not  exact  of  us  a  righteousness  without  blemish,  and,  on  the 
contrary,  has  consented  to  judge  us,  not  with  extremity  of  rigor, 
but  with  a  rigor  tempered  and  suited  to  our  weakness,  which 
obliged  the  council  of  Trentj  to  acknowledge  "  that  man  hath 
not  wherewith  to  glorify  himself,  but  all  his  glory  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,  in  whom  we  hve,  in  whom  we  merit,  in  whom  we  satisfy, 
doing  worthy  fruits  of  penance  which  derive  from  him  their  vir- 
tue ;  by  him  are  offered  to  his  Father,  and  for  the  love  of  him 
are  accepted  by  his  Father." 

151. — That  the  Holy  Fathers  have  detested  no  less  than  we,  as  a  blasphemy,  the 
doctrine  \ohich  makes  God  equally  predestinate  to  good  and  evil. 

The  rock  to  be  feared  in  celebrating  the  mystery  of  Predes- 
tination, was  the  admitting  it  equally  in  respect  of  good  and  evil ; 
and  if  the  Church  abhorred  the  crime  of  the  pretended  Re- 
formers guilty  of  this  excess,  she  did  but  walk  in  the  steps  of  the 
Council  'of  Orange,  J  which  pronounces  an  eternal  "  anathema, 
with  utter  detestation,  against  those  who  should  dare  to  say  that 
man  is  predestinated  to  evil  by  the  divine  power ;"  and  of  the 
Council  of  Valentia,§  deciding,  in  like  manner,  "  that  God,  by 
his  fore-knowledge,  doth  impose  on  no  man  the  necessity  of 
sinning,  but  foresees  only  what  man  would  be  by  his  own  will ; 
so  that  the  wicked  do  not  perish  on  account  that  they  had  not 
the  power  of  being  good,  but  because  they  would  not  become 
good,  or  because  they  would  not  remain  in  the  grace  they  had 
received." 

152. — The  Church  alioays  found  in  the  same  situation. 

Thus,  when  a  question  has  been  once  judged  in  the  Church, 
as  she  never  fails  to  decide  it  according  to  the  tradition  of  all 
*  Cap.  vii.  viii.  f  Sess.  xiv.  c.  viii.  |  Cone.  Arau.  c.  xxv.  §  Cone.  Yalent.  iii.  c.  ii.  v. 

VOL,  II.  28 


326  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

past  ages,  so,  should  it  happen  to  be  moved  again  in  succeeding 
times,  you  find  the  Church,  after  a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred 
years,  always  in  the  same  situation,  always  ready  to  oppose 
against  the  enemies  of  truth  the  same  decrees  which  the  Holy 
Apostolic  See  and  Catholic  Unanimity  had  pronounced,  without 
ever  adding  anything  thereto,  save  what  is  necessary  against 
new  errors. 

153. — Our  Fathers  have  rejected,  as  well  as  we,  the  certainty  of  Salvation  and 

Righteousness. 

To  conclude  what  remains  on  the  subject  of  justifying  grace, 
I  find  no  decision  touching  the  certainty  of  salvation,  because 
as  yet  nothing  had  obhged  the  Church  to  pronounce  on  this 
point :  yet  none  has  contradicted  St.  Austin,  who  teaches  "  that 
this  certainty  is  not  beneficial  in  this  state  of  temptation,  in 
which  assurance  might  produce  pride  ;"*  which  also  extends 
itself,  as  is  plain,  to  the  certainty  one  might  have  of  present 
righteousness,  so  that  the  Catholic  Church,  whilst  she  inspires 
into  her  children  so  great  a  confidence  as  to  exclude  perturba- 
tion and  trouble,  yet  leaves  in  them,  after  the  example  of  the 
Apostles,  the  counterpoise  of  fear,  and  no  less  teaches  man  to 
distrust  himself  than  to  trust  absolutely  in  God. 

154. — Melancthon  agrees  that  the  article  of  Justijicalion  is  easy  to  be  reconciled. 
In  fine,  if  all  that  has  been  seen  granted  in  this  work  by  our 
adversaries,  touching  justification  and  the  merits  of  the  saints,  be 
reviewed,  it  will  entirely  convince  a  man  that  there  is  not  the 
least  occasion  to  complain  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church. | 
Melancthon,  so  zealous  for  this  article,  owns  nevertheless  that 
*'  it  is  easy  to  come  to  an  agreement  on  both  sides  :"  what  he 
seems  most  to  insist  upon  is  the  certainty  of  justice  ;  but  every 
humble  Christian  will  easily  rest  contented  with  the  same  cer- 
tainty with  respect  to  justice  as  to  eternal  salvation  :  all  the 
comfort  man  ought  to  have  in  this  life  is  that  of  excluding  by 
hope,  not  only  despair,  but  also  trouble  and  anguish ;  nor  is 
there  anything  to  reproach  a  Christian  with,  who,  assured  on 
God's  side,  has  no  longer  anything  to  fear  or  doubt  but  from 
himself. 

155. — The  clearness  of  the  decisions  of  the  Church. — She  cids  away  the  root 
of  abuses  in  regard  of  Prayer  to  the  Saints. 

The  decisions  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  not  less  clear  and 
precise  than  they  are  firm  and  lasting,  always  obviating  what- 
ever might  give  occasion  to  the  mind  of  man  going  astray.  J 
Honoring  the  Saints  in  her  assemblies,  was  honoring  God,  the 
author  of  their  sanctity  and  bliss  ;  and  demanding  of  them  the 

*  De  correct,  et  grat.  c.  xiii.  de  Civ.  Dei.  xi.  12.     j  S.  1.  iii.  n.  25,  et  seq., 
viii.  22,  et  seq.     Sent.  Phil.  Mel.  de  pace  Ec.  p.  10.    Bern.  Ser.  i.  de  Sept. 
I  S.  1.  xiii.  xiv. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  327 

partnership  of  their  prayers,  was  joining  ourselves  to  the  choirs 
of  angels,  to  the  spirits  of  the  perfectly  just,  and  to  the  Church 
of  the  first-born  which  are  in  heaven.  So  holy  a  practice  may 
be  discovered  ever  since  the  first  ages,  nor  is  the  beginning  of 
it  to  be  discovered  there,  since  none  can  then  be  found  who  were 
noted  for  innovation  in  that  regard.  The  thing  most  to  be  feared 
with  respect  to  the  ignorant  was,  lest  they  should  make  the  in- 
vocation of  saints  too  like  to  that  of  God,  and  their  intercession 
too  like  that  of  Jesus  Christ :  but  the  Council  of  Trent^>'  in- 
structs us  fully  as  to  these  two  points,  by  warning  us  that  the 
saints  pray, — which  places  them  at  an  infinite  distance  from  him 
who  gives ;  and  that  they  pray  through  Jesus  Christ, — which 
places  them  infinitely  beneath  him  who  is  heard  through  himself. 
156. — Regarding  Images. 
Setting  up  images  is  rendering  sensible  the  mysteries  and 
examples  which  sanctify  us.  The  thing  to  be  feared  in  respect 
of  the  ignorant  is,  lest  they  should  believe  that  the  divine  na- 
ture might  be  represented,  or  rendered  present  in  images,  or,  at 
all  events,  lest  they  should  look  upon  them  as  filled  with  some 
virtue  for  which  they  are  honored  ;  these  are  the  three  charac- 
ters of  idolatry.  But  the  Council  has  rejected  thom  in  plain 
terms  ;"f"  so  that  it  is  not  lawful  to  attribute  to  one  image  more 
virtue  than  to  another,  nor,  by  consequence,  to  frequent  one 
more  than  another,  unless  in  memory  of  soiiie  miracles,  or  some 
pious  history  which  might  excite  devotion.;];  The  use  of  images 
being  thus  purified,  Luther  himself  and  the  Lutherans  v/ill  de- 
monstrate that  images  of  this  kind  are  not  what  the  Decalogue 
speaks  of,  and  the  honor  rendered  to  them  will  be  manifestly 
nothing  else  than  a  sensible  and  exterior  testimony  of  the  pious 
remembrance  they  excite,  and  the  simple  and  natural  efiect  of 
that  mute  language  which  accompanies  these  pious  representa- 
tions, and  whose  usefulness  is  so  much  the  greater,  as  it  is 
capable  of  being  understood  by  all  mankind. 

157. — Regarding  Worship  in  general. 

In  general,  worship  is  ret'erred  to  the  interior  and  exterior 
exercise  of  faith,  of  hope,  and  of  charity,  and  principally  to  that 
of  this  last  virtue,  whose  property  it  is  to  unite  us  with  God  ; 
so  that  a  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth  exists  everywhere,  wher- 
ever there  is  to  be  found  the  exercise  of  charity  towards  God 
or  towards  our  neighbor,  conformably  to  that  saying  of  St. 
James,  "  Pure  religion,  and  undefiled  before  God  is  this,  to  visit 
the  fatherless  and  widows,  and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from 
the  world  ;"§  and  every  act  of  piety  not  animated  with  this 
spirit  is  imperfect,  carnal,  or  superstitious. 

*  Sess.  XXV.  deer,  de  invoc.  S.  S.     f  Ibid.      |  S.  1.  ii.  n.  28.      §  Jas.  1.  27, 


328  THE    HISTORY    OP  [bOOK 

158. — Against  those  who  accuse  the  Council  of  Trent  of  having  spoken 

ambiguously. 

Under  pretext  that  the  Council  of  Trent  dechned  entering 
into  many  difficulties,  our  adversaries,  after  Fra-Paolo,  are  con- 
tinually blaming  it  as  having  explained  the  dogmas  in  general, 
obscure,  and  equivocal  terms,  with  the  design  of  pleasing  in  ap- 
pearance the  greatest  number :  but  they  would  entertain  more 
equitable  sentiments,  did  they  but  consider,  that  God,  who  knows 
how  far  he  designs  to  guide  our  understanding  in  revealing  to 
us  some  truth,  or  some  mystery,  does  not  always  reveal  to  us 
either  the  ways  of  explaining  it,  or  the  circumstances  which  ac- 
company it,  or  even  wherein  it  consists  as  to  its  utmost  precision, 
or,  as  we  speak  in  schools,  as  to  its  specific  difference  ;  so  that, 
in  Church  decisions,  it  is  often  necessary  to  keep  to  general 
expressions,  in  order  to  retain  that  measure  of  faith  so  much 
commended  by  St.  Paul,*  and  not  to  transgress  his  precept 
forbidding  us  to  be  more  wise  than  we  ought  to  be. 

1 59. — The  principles  of  Protestants  prove  the  necessity  of  Purgatory. 

For  example,  in  the  controversy  concerning  Purgatory,  the 
Council  of  Trent  has  firmly  beHeved  as  a  truth  revealed  of  God, 
that  just  souls  may  depart  this  life  without  being  wholly  purified. 
Grotius  proves  evidently,"!*  that  this  truth  is  confessed  by  Pro- 
testants, by  Mestresat,  by  Spanheim,  by  Calvin  himself,  on  this 
common  ground- work  of  the  Reformation,  viz.  that  in  the  whole 
course  of  this  life  the  soul  is  never  entirely  pure,  whence  it  fol- 
lows that  she  is  still  defiled  at  her  departure  from  the  body.  But 
the  Holy  Ghost  hath  pronounced,  that  "  not  anything  that  is  pol- 
luted shall  enter  into  the  holy  city  ;"J  and  the  minister  Span- 
heim§  proves  unanswerably,  that  the  soul  cannot  be  presented 
to  God  till  she  be  "  without  spot  or  wrinkle,  all  holy,  pure,  and 
irreproachable,"  conformably  to  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul,|j  which 
he  allows  she  cannot  be,  during  this  mortal  life. 

160. — Protestants  do  not  reject  the  purification  of  souls  after  this  life. 

After  this  still  remains  the  question,  whether  or  not  this  puri- 
fication of  the  soul  be  wrought  in  this  life  at  the  last  moment, 
or  after  death ;  and  Spanheim  leaves  the  thing  undecided  :  IT 
"  The  main  point,"  says  he,  "  is  uncertain,  but  the  manner  and 
circumstances  are  not  so."  But  without  further  pressing  this 
author  with  the  principles  of  the  sect,  the  Catholic  Church  ad- 
vances beyond  this  :  for  the  tradition  of  all  ages  having  taught 
her  to  pray  in  behalf  of  the  dead,  for  the  comfort  of  their  souls, 
for  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins,  and  their  relief,  she  has  held  it 
for  a  certain  truth,  that  the  perfect  purification  of  souls  was  per- 
formed after  death,  and  this  by  secret  pains  not  alike  explained 

+  Rom.  xii.  3.     f  Gf^ot.  Ep.  extraor.  pp.  575,  578,  579.     |  Rev.  xxi.  27. 
§  Span.  dub.  Ev.  Tem.  iii.  dub.  141.  n.  vi.  vii.     |1  Eplies.  v.  27.     IT  N.  vii. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  329 

by  the  holy  doctors,  but  of  which  they  said  only,  that  they  might 

be  mitigated   and  wholly  remitted  by  prayers  and  oblations, 

answerably  to  the  Liturgies  of  all  Churches. 

161. — Moderation  of  the   Church  in  not  determining  anything  but  what  is 

certain. 

Without  examining  in  this  place  whether  this  sentiment  be 
good  or  bad,  it  were  no  longer  equitable,  or  candid,  to  refuse 
granting  us,  that  in  this  presupposition  at  least,  the  Council 
ought  to  have  formed  its  decree  in  a  general  expression,  and 
defined  as  it  has  done  :*  first,  that  there  is  a  Purgatory  after 
this  life  ;  secondly,  that  the  prayers  of  the  living  may  afford 
relief  to  faithful  souls  departed,  without  descending  to  particu- 
lars, either  of  their  pains  or  the  manner  in  which  they  are  puri- 
fied, because  tradition  did  not  explain  it ;  but  showing  only 
that  they  are  purified  by  Jesus  Christ  alone,  they  being  purified 
only  by  prayers  and  oblations  made  in  his  name. 

162. — The  difference  of  general  terms,  from  indefinite,  perplexed,  or  ambiguous 

terms. 

The  same  judgment  ought  to  be  passed  on  other  decisions, 
and  care  taken  not  to  confound,  as  our  reformed  here  do,  gene- 
ral v.'ith  indefinite,  intricate,  or  ambiguous  terms.  Indefinite 
terms  signify  nothing  ;  ambiguous  terms  signify  equivocally, 
and  leave  in  the  mind  no  determinate  sense ;  intricate  terms 
raise  a  mist  of  confused  ideas  ;  but  although  general  terms 
carry  not  the  evidence  as  far  as  the  utmost  precision,  they  are, 
however,  to  a  certain  degree  perspicuous. 

163. — General  terms  are  clear  in  their  ivay. 

Our  adversaries  will  not  deny  that  the  passages  of  Scripture, 
w^hich  say  that  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeds  from  the  Father,  de- 
note clearly  some  truth,  since  they  denote,  beyond  a.11  doubt, 
that  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity  derives  his  origin  from  the 
Father  no  less  than  the  second,  although  they  do  not  express 
specifically  wherein  his  procession  consists,  nor  wherein  it  is 
different  from  that  of  the  Son.  It  is,  therefore,  plain,  that  gen- 
eral expressions  cannot  be  blamed,  without  blaming  at  the  same 
time  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Gospel. 

164. — In  what  consists  the  clearness  of  a  decision. 

It  is  in  this  that  our  adversaries  ahvays  show  themselves  un- 
just to  the  Council,  sometimes  blaming  it  for  descending  too 
much  to  particulars,  and  sometimes  requiring  it  should  have  de- 
cided all  the  disputes  of  the  Scotists  and  Thomists,  under  pen- 
alty of  being  convicted  of  affected  obscurity  :  as  if  they  were 
ignorant  that,  in  decisions  of  faith,  a  free  scope  ought  to  be  al- 
lowed to  divines  for  proposing  different  means  of  explaining  the 
Christian  truths,  and,  consequently,  that  a  Council,  waiving 
*  Sess.  XXV.  dec.  de  Purg. 

VOL.  II.  28  * 


330  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

their  several  and  particular  opinions,  ought  to  keep  itself  within 
the  compass  of  such  essential  points,  as  they  all  defend  in  com- 
mon. This  method  of  defining  the  articles  of  our  faith  is  so 
far  from  speaking  equivocally,  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  an  ef- 
fect of  clearness  to  define  so  plainly  that  which  is  certain,  as 
not  to  involve  in  the  decision  what  is  doubtful ;  nor  is  there  any- 
thing more  becoming  the  authority  and  majesty  of  a  Council, 
than  to  repress  the  impetuosity  of  those  who  would  advance  be- 
yond these  bounds. 

165. — That  which  is  certain  in  regard  of  the  Pope''s  authority,  acknowledged  in 
the  Council  and  by  the  Catholic  Doctors. 

Conformably  to  this  rule,  a  form  for  explaining  the  Pope's 
authority  having  been  proposed  at  Trent  in  such  terms  as  that 
his  superiority  over  the  general  Council  might  in  some  manner 
be  inferred,  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  and  the  Bishops  of 
France  being  opposed  to  it.  Cardinal  Pallavicini  himself  relates 
in  his  history,  that  the  form  was  suppressed,  and  the  Pope  an- 
swered, that  "  Nothing  ought  to  be  defined  but  what  all  the 
Fathers  should  unanimously  agree  to  ;"*  an  admirable  rule 
in  order  to  separate  what  is  certain  from  what  is  doubtful ! 
Whence  it  also  came  to  pass  that  the  Cardinal  du  Perron,  al- 
though a  zealous  defender  of  the  interests  of  the  Court  of  Rome, 
declared  to  the  King  of  England,  "  That  the  dispute  concern- 
ing the  Pope's  authority,  whether  in  its  spiritual  regard  to  Ecu- 
menical Councils,  or  in  its  temporal  regard  to  secular  jurisdic- 
tions, is  not  a  dispute  about  things  that  are  held  for  articles  of 
faith,  or  are  inserted  and  required  in  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
or  that  could  hinder  his  Majesty  from  entering  into  the  Church, 
should  he  be  satisfied  in  other  points.''!  ^"^  even  in  our  days, 
the  renowned  Andrew  du  Val,J  doctor  of  Sorbonne,  to  whom 
those  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps  referred  the  defence  of  their 
cause,  decided  that  the  doctrine  denying  the  Pope's  infallibility 
is  not  absolutely  against  faith  ;  and  that  which  places  the  Coun- 
cil above  the  Pope  cannot  be  branded  with  any  censure,  either 
of  heresy,  or  error,  or  even  of  temerity. 

166. — With  this  moderation,  Jylelancthoii  would  have  owned  the  Pope's  au- 
thority. 

Thereby  it  appears  that  doctrines,  not  supported  by  a  certain 
and  perpetual  tradition,  cannot  strike  root  in  the  Church,  since 
they  make  not  a  part  of  her  confession  of  faith ;  and  that  even 
those  who  teach  them,  teach  them  as  their  particular  doctrine, 
and  not  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church. §  To  reject 
the  supremacy  and  authority  of  the  Holy  See,  with  this  whole- 

*  Hist.  Cone.  Trid.  interp.  Giattin.  lib.  xix.  c.  xi.  xiii.  xiv.  xv. 
t  Reply,  1.  vi.  Praef.  p.  858.      |  Du  Val.  Elench.  p.  9.  it.  tract  de  Sup. 
Rom.  Pont,  potes.  part  ii.  q.  1.  p.  4.  q.  7,  8.        §  Yid.  1.  iv.  39.  v.  24,  25. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  331 

some  moderation,  is  to  reject  the  band  of  Christians,  is  to  be  at 

enmity  with  order  and  peace,  and  to  envy  the  Church  that  good 

which  Melancthon  himself  wished  it  might  enjoy.* 

167. — Abridgment  of  this  last  book,  and  first,  touching  the  perpetual  Visibility 

of  the  Church. 

After  what  has  been  seen,  there  is  nothing  left  at  present  that 
can  hinder  our  reformed  from  submitting  to  the  Church ;  the 
shelter  of  a  Church  invisible  is  abandoned  :  no  longer  is  it  al- 
lowable to  allege  in  its  defence  the  obscurities  of  the  Jewish 
Church;  the  ministers  have  freed  us  from  the  trouble  of  answer- 
ing on  that  head,  by  showing  clearly,  that  the  true  worship  was 
never  interrupted,  not  even  under  Achaz  and  Manasses  :|  the 
Christian  society,  more  extensive  than  that  of  the  Jews,  ac- 
cording to  the  conditions  of  its  covenant,  has  Ukewise  stood 
more  firm,  and  the  perpetual  visibility  of  the  Catholic  Church 
can  be  no  longer  doubted  of. 

168. — A  remark  on  the  Confession  of  Augsburg. 

Those  of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg  are  yet  more  obliged 

to  acknowledge  it  than  the  Calvinists  :  J  the  Invisible  Church 

has  neither  found  place  in  their  Confession  of  Faith,  nor  in  their 

apology,  wherein,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  seen  the  Church 

spoken  of  in  the  Creed  vested  with  a  perpetual  visibihty,  and, 

according  to  these  principles,  they  should  be  able  to  show  us 

an  assembly  made  up  of  pastors  and   people,  in  which  sound 

doctrine  and  the  Sacraments  have  ever  flourished. 

169. —  The  arguments  brought  by  them  against  the  authority  of  the  Church,  are 
resolved  by  the  Ministers. 

All  the  arguments  that  were  formed  against  the  authority  of 
the  Church  are  given  up.  Yielding  to  the  authority  of  the  Uni- 
versal Church,  is  now  no  longer  acting  unadvisedly  nor  sub- 
mitting to  men,  since  they  own  that  her  sentiments  are  the  rule, 
nay,  the  most  sure  rule,  for  deciding  the  most  important  truths 
of  religion.^  They  agree,  if  this  rule  had  been  followed,  and 
men  had  proposed  to  themselves  the  understanding  holy  Scrip- 
ture as  it  was  understood  by  the  Universal  Church,  that  there 
never  would  have  been  Socinians  ;  never  should  we  have  heard 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  called  in  question,  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  the  eternity  of  pains,  the  creation,  God's  foreknow- 
ledge, the  spirituality  of  his  essence  :  things  so  firmly  believed 
among  Christians,  that  they  did  not  so  much  as  think  they  could 
be  ever  doubted  of,  and  which  at  present  are  impugned  with 
such  captious  arguments,  that  many  weak  minds  are  ensnared 
thereby.  They  agree  that  the  authority  of  the  Universal  Church 
is  an  infallible  remedy  against  this  disorder  ;   so  that  the  author- 

*  Mel.  de  pace,  c.  de  pot  Pontif.  P.  6.  14  Reg.  x\'i.  4,  1 5.  xxi.  Jur. 
Sypt.  pp.  222,  223.        |  S.  n.  4.  et  seq.  to  n.  10.        §  S.  n.  86,  87,  et  sep. 


332  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

ity  of  the  Church,  far  from  being,  what  was  said  in  the  Refor- 
mation, a  means  of  introducing  all  manner  of  new-fangled  doc- 
trines amongst  Christians,  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  certain  means 
of  putting  a  stop  to  the  licentiousness  of  men's  minds,  of  pre- 
venting the  abuse  they  make  of  the  sublimity  of  Scripture,  after 
a  manner  so  dangerous  to  the  salvation  of  souls. 

The  Reformation  has  discovered  these  truths  at  last ;  and 
if  the  Lutherans  will  not  receive  them  from  the  hands  of  a  Cal- 
vinist  minister,  they  have  but  to  explain  to  us  how  they  can  re- 
sist the  authority  of  the  Church  after  having  owned  that  the 
truth  is  always  manifest  in  her.* 

170. — Salvation  to  be  had  in  the  Church  of  Rome. 

None  now,  of  whatever  separate  communions,  should  any 
longer  hesitate  to  come  and  seek  eternal  life  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  since  it  is  confessed!  ^^^^  God's  true  people 
and  his  true  elect  are  still  in  her,  as  it  hath  always  been  confess- 
ed that  they  were  before  the  pretended  Reformation.  But  it  is 
perceived  at  length,  that  the  difference  put  between  the  ages 
that  preceded,  and  those  which  followed  it,  was  vain,  and  that 
the  difficulty  which  was  made  of  acknowledging  this  truth,  pro- 
ceeded from  evil  policy. 

Should  the  Lutherans  here  start  new  difficulties,  and  not  suf- 
fer themselves  to  be  persuaded  by  the  sentiments  of  Calixtus, 
let  them  show  us  what  the  Church  of  Rome  has  done  since 
Luther's  time  to  forfeit  the  title  of  a  true  Church,  and  so  to  lose 
her  fecundity,  that  the  elect  can  be  no  longer  born  in  her  womb. 

171. — The  Ministers  are  not  to  be  believed  lohen  they  make  Salvation  so  difficult 
in  the  Church  of  Rome. 

True  it  is,  when  the  ministers  acknowledge  you  may  be  saved 
in  the  Church  of  Rome,  they  would  make  you  believe  you  may 
do  it  as  in  an  infected  air,  and  by  a  kind  of  miracle,  by  reason 
of  her  impieties  and  idolatries.  But  men  should  learn  to  distin- 
guish, in  the  ministers,  what  hatred  has  made  them  add,  from 
what  truth  has  forced  them  to  confess.  If  the  Church  of  Rome 
made  profession  of  impiety  and  idolatry,  no  salvation  could  have 
been  had  in  her,  either  before  or  after  the  Reformation  ;  and  if, 
both  before  and  after,  salvation  may  be  had  in  her  body,  the 
accusation  of  impiety  and  idolatry  is  unworthy  and  calumnious. 

172. — Excesses  of  the  Ministers  who  prefer  the  Arian  Sect  to  the  Church  of 

Rome. 

And,  indeed,  the  hatred  they  show  to  her  is  but  too  visible, 
since  they  are  so  far  transported  as  to  say,  that  without  doubt  a 
man  may  save  his  soul  in  that  communion,  but  with  greater 
difficulty  than  "  amongst  the  Arians,"  J  who  deny  the  divinity  of 

*  S.  n.  4.  et  seq.  f  S.  n.  50,  51.  et  seq.  as  far  as  n.  59. 

I  Prej.  leg.  part  i.  ch.  i.  Syst.  p.  225. 


XV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  333 

the  Son  of  God  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  who,  by  consequence, 
believe  themselves  devoted  to  creatures  by  baptism  ;  who,  in 
the  Eucharist,  look  on  the  flesh  of  a  man,  who  is  not  God,  as 
the  source  of  Hfe;  who  beheve  that,  without  being  God,  a  man 
has  saved  them,  and  was  able  to  pay  the  price  of  their  redemp- 
tion ;  who  invoke  him  as  the  person  to  whom  all  power  is  given 
in  heaven  and  on  earth  ;  who  are  consecrated  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  namely,  to  a  creature,  to  become  his  temples  ;  who 
believe  that  a  creature,  to  wit,  the  same  Holy  Ghost,  distributes 
grace  to  them  as  he  pleases,  regenerates  them,  and  sanctifies 
them  by  his  presence.  This  is  the  sect  they  prefer  to  the  Church 
of  Rome  ;  and  is  not  this  saying  to  all  that  are  capable  of  under- 
standing. Believe  not  one  word  we  say  ;  when  we  speak  of  that 
Church,  hatred  possesses  and  sets  us  besides  ourselves. 

173. — The  Protestants  can  no  longer  excuse  themselves  from  Schism. 

Lastly,  there  is  no  longer  any  possibility  for  our  reformed  to 
avoid  being  Reckoned  amongst  the  number  of  those  "  who  sepa- 
rate themselves,  and  who  make  a  sect  apart,"  contrary  to  the 
precept  of  the  Apostles,  particularly  St.  Jude,*  and  contrary  to 
the  import  of  their  own  Catechism,  j"  Here  are  its  very  words 
in  the  exposition  of  the  Creed  :  ''  The  article  of  forgiveness  of 
sins  is  placed  after  that  of  the  Catholic  Church,  because  no  one 
obtains  pardon  for  his  sins  except  beforehand  he  be  incorpo- 
rated with  God's  people,  and  persevere  in  unity  and  commu- 
nion with  the  body  of  Christ,  and  so  be  a  member  of  the  Church; 
insomuch  that,  out  of  the  Church,  there  is  nothing  but  death  and 
damnation  ;  for  all  those  who  separate  from  the  society  of  the 
faithful,  to  make  a  sect  apart,  ought  not  to  hope  for  salvation 
whilst  they  are  in  division." 

The  article  speaks  clearly  of  the  Universal  Church,  visible 
and  always  visible,  and  in  this  we  have  seen  that  they  are 
agreed  :  J  they  are  agreed  likewise,  as  to  a  fact  certain  and  no- 
torious, that  the  Churches,  which  call  themselves  reformed,  at 
their  renouncing  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  did 
not  find  on  earth  one  Church  which  they  united  with  :  they 
therefore  made  a  sect  apart  from  the  whole  body  of  Christians 
and  the  Universal  Church  ;  and,  according  to  their  own  doc- 
trine, renounce  the  grace  of  forgiveness  of  sinS,  which  is  the  fruit 
of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  death  and  damnation  is  their  lot. 
174. — Short  repetition  of  the  absurdities  of  the  new  System. 

The  absurdities,  necessarily  attending  the  answer  to  this  ar- 
gument plainly  discover  how  invincible  it  is  ;  for  at\er  a  thou- 
sand fruitless  shifts,  they  were,  in  fine,  driven  into  such  straits 
as  even  to  say,§  that  you  remain  in  the  Catholic  and  Universal 

*  Jud.  xvii.  18.     t  Dim.  xvi     J  S.  n.  21,  22,  34,  35,  et  seq.  68,  81,  82,  83. 

§  S.  n.  65,  &c. 


334  THE    HISTORY    OF  [bOOK 

Church,  in  renouncing  the  communion  of  all  Churches  in  the 
world,  and  in  making  a  Church  apart ;  that  you  remain  in  the 
same  Universal  Church  although  driven  from  it  by  a  just  cen- 
sure; that  you  cannot  go  forth  from  it  by  any  other  crime  than 
that  of  apostacy,  by  renouncing  Christianity  and  your  baptism; 
that  all  the  Christian  sects,  how  divided  soever  they  be,  are  one 
and  the  same  body,  and  one  and  the  same  Church  in  Jesus 
Christ:  that  Christian  Churches  have  no  exterior  band  of  union 
by  the  appointment  of  Jesus  Christ ;  that  their  band  is  arbitrary ; 
that  the  Confessions  of  Faith  whereby  they  unite  themselves, 
are  arbitrary  likewise,  and  contracts  susceptible  of  what  terms 
you  please,  which  yet  may  not  be  broken  without  incurring  the 
guilt  of  Schism  :  that  the  union  of  Churches  depends  on  em- 
pires and  the  will  of  princes ;  that  all  Christian  Churches  are 
naturally,  and  by  their  origin,  independent  one  of  another, 
whence  it  follows  that  the  Independents,  so  grievously  censured 
at  Charenton,  do  nothing  else  but  stand  up  for  the  natural 
liberty  of  Churches  ;  that,  provided  you  find  means  of  assem- 
bling together  either  with  consent  or  by  violence  so  as  "  to 
make  a  figure  in  the  world,"  you  are  a  true  member  of  the  body 
of  the  Cathohc  Church  ;  that  no  heresy  ever  has,  or  can  be, 
condemned  by  a  judgment  of  the  Universal  Church ;  nay,  that 
there  is  not,  nor  can  be,  any  ecclesiastical  judgment  in  matters 
of  faith ;  that  men  have  no  right  to  exact  subscriptions  to  the 
decrees  of  Synods  respecting  fliith;  that  one  may  save  his  soul 
in  the  most  perverse  sects,  even  in  that  of  the  Socinians. 

175. — The  height  of  the  absiirdiHes,  riz.  the  kingdom  of  Jesus   Christ  con- 
founded ivith  the  kingdom  of  Satan. 

There  would  be  no  end  were  I  to  repeat  all  the  absurdities  it 
was  necessary  to  vent  in  order  to  save  the  Reformation  from 
the  sentence  pronounced  against  those  "  who  make  a  sect 
apart."  But,  besides  that  it  is  needless  to  enter  into  a  detail  of 
them,  they  are  all  comprised  in  this  one  which  has  been  always 
more  or  less  maintained  in  the  Reformation,  and  wherein  the 
whole  defence  of  the  cause  is  placed  now  more  than  ever;  viz. 
*'  that  the  Catholic  Church,"  whereof  the  Creed  speaks,  is  one 
heap  of  sects  divided  amongst  one  another,  and  which  anathema- 
tize one  another  ;*  insomuch  that  the  character  of  the  kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  with  that  given  by  Jesus  Christ  to 
the  kingdom  of  Satan,  as  above  explained. 

But  nothing  is  more  opposite  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ  him- 
self. According  to  his  doctrine,  the  kingdom  of  Satan  is  di- 
vided against  itself,|  and  must  fall,  house  upon  house,  to  utter 
desolation.  On  the  contrary,  according  to  the  promise  of  Jesus 
Christ,  his  Church,  which  is  his  kingdom  built  on  the  rock,J  on 
*  S.  n.  51,  &c.  f  Luke  xi.  J  Matt.  xvi. 


XV.] 


THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC. 


335 


the  same  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  same  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment, is  perfectly  united :  whence  it  follows  that  she  is  im- 
movable, and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  her; 
that  is  to  say,  division,  the  cause  of  weakness  and  the  charac- 
ter of  hell,  shall  not  get  the  better  of  unity,  the  cause  of  strength, 
and  the  character  of  the  Church.  But  all  this  order  is  changed 
in  the  Reformation  ;  and  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  being 
divided  like  to  that  of  Satan,  no  wonder  men  have  said,  con- 
formably to  such  a  principle,  that  it  was  fallen  to  ruin  and  deso- 
lation. 

176. — The  immovable  steadfastness  of  the  Church. — Conclusion  of  this  Work. 

These  maxims  of  division  were  the  ground-work  of  the  Re- 
formation, inasmuch  as  it  was  established  by  an  universal  rup- 
ture, and  a  Church-unity  has  never  been  known  therein :  and 
therefore  its  Variations,  whose  history  we  have  at  length  con- 
cluded, have  shown  us  what  it  was,  to  wit,  a  kingdom  disunited, 
divided  against  itself,  and  which  must  fall  sooner  or  later : 
whilst  the  Catholic  Church,  so  unalterably  attached  to  decrees 
once  pronounced,  that  not  the  least  variation  since  the  origin 
of  Christianity  can  be  discovered  in  her,  shows  herself  a  Church 
built  on  the  rock,  always  in  full  security  from  the  promises  she 
has  received,  firm  in  her  principles,  and  guided  by  a  Spirit  which 
never  contradicts  himself. 

May  He  who  holds  in  his  hand  the  hearts  of  men,  and  who 
alone  knows  the  bounds  he  has  set  to  rebellious  sects,  and  to 
the  afflictions  of  his  Church,  cause  all  his  stray  children  quickly 
to  return  to  her  unity ;  and  may  we  have  the  joy  to  behold  with 
our  eyes  Israel,  so  unfortunately  divided,  unite  under  one  and 
the  same  head  with  Judah.* 

*  Hosea  i.  11. 


336  THE  HISTORY  OP  [APP.  TO 

A    MATERIAL    APPENDIX 
THE  FOURTEENTH  BOOK. 


I. — A  new  Book  written  by  the  Minister  Jurieu  concerning  the  union  of  the 
Calvinists  with  the  Lutherans. 

After  this  work  was  finished,  a  Latin  book  fell  into  my 
hands,  which  the  indefatigable  Jurieu  has  just  brought  to  light, 
and  whereof  it  is  requisite  I  should  give  the  public  some  ac- 
count. The  title  is,  "  An  Amicable  Consultation  concerning 
Peace  between  the  Protestants."  Therein  he  treats  of  this 
subject  with  the  Doctor  Daniel  Severin  Scultet,  who,  on  his 
side,  proposes  to  himself  to  smooth  the  difficulties  of  this  peace, 
so  frequently  and  so  unsuccessfully  attempted.  The  question 
chiefly  in  debate  is  that  of  predestination  and  grace.  The  Lu- 
theran cannot  digest  what  was  defined  at  the  Synod  of  Dort 
touching  absolute  decrees  and  irresistible  grace  :  he  judges  still 
more  insupportable  what  the  same  Synod  teaches  of  the  ina- 
missibility  of  justice,  and  the  certainty  of  salvation,  there  being 
nothing,  in  his  notion,  more  impious  than  to  give  to  man  once 
justified,  a  certain  assurance  in  the  midst  of  the  most  heinous 
crimes,  that  they  shall  neither  make  him  forfeit  his  salvation  in 
eternity,  nor  in  time  even  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  grace  of 
adoption.  I  repeat  not  the  explanation  of  these  questions, 
which  the  reader  must  have  understood  from  the  account  given 
of  them  in  this  history  ;*  but  shall  oniy  say,  that  this  is  what  is 
called,  among  the  Lutherans,  the  particularism  of  the  Calvinists  : 
so  abominable  a  heresy  that  they  charge  it  with  nothing  less 
than  of  making  God  the  author  of  sin,  and  of  subverting  all 
Christian  morality,  by  inspiring  with  a  pernicious  security  those 
who  are  abandoned  to  the  most  abominable  enormities.  M. 
Jurieu  does  not  deny  that  the  Synod  of  Dort  taught  these  dog- 
mas laid  to  its  charge  :  he  endeavors  only  to  clear  them  from 
those  evil  consequences  which  are  thence  drawn  ;  and  he  him- 
self carries  so  far  the  certainty  of  salvation,  the  very  dogma  we 
have  seen  all  centre  in,  as  to  say,  that  taking  it  from  the  faith- 
ful is  making  a  Christian's  life  an  insutferable  torment. "f  He 
grants  then,  in  the  main,  the  sentiments  imputed  to  the  Cal- 
vinists :  but  in  order  to  bring  about  a  peace,  notwithstanding  so 

♦  L.  ix.  xiv.  f  P.  i.  c.  viii.  p.  2,  c.  vi.  p.  191,  &c.  xi.  253,  234. 


BOOK  XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  337 

great  an  opposition  in  such  important  articles,  after  proposing 
some  mitigations  consisting  in  words  only,  he  concludes  for 
a  mutual  toleration.  The  reasons  he  grounds  himself  on  are 
reduced  to  two,  one  whereof  is  recrimination,  and  the  other  a 
compensation  of  dogmas. 

2. — The  recrinnnations  of  the  JSIinister  Juneu  against  the  Lutherans,  concern- 
ing lAither^s  blasphemies. 

As  for  recrimination,  M.  Jurieu's  reasoning  is  as  follows. 
You  accuse  us,  says  he  to  Doctor  Scultet,  of  making  God  the 
author  of  sin  ;*  it  is  Luther  you  must  accuse  of  this,  not  us  : 
and  thereupon  cites  to  him  those  passages  we  have  above  re- 
lated, where  Luther  decides  "that  God's  prescience  renders  free- 
will impossible ;  that  Judas,  for  this  reason,  could  not  help 
betraying  his  master ;  that  all  that  passes  in  man,  whether  good 
or  evil,  happens  by  pure  and  inevitable  necessity  ;  that  it  is  God 
who  operates  in  man  all  the  good  and  evil  that  is  done  by  him, 
and  makes  man  guilty  of  damnation  by  necessity ;  that  David's 
adultery  is  no  less  the  work  of  God  than  the  vocation  of  St. 
Paul ;  lastly,  that  it  is  no  more  unworthy  of  God  to  damn  the 
innocent,  than  to  forgive,  as  he  does,  the  guilty." 

The  Calvinist  then  shows,  that  Luther  does  not  speak  here 
in  a  doubting  manner,  but  with  that  terrible  decision  above  spe- 
cified, and  which  suffers  no  reply  on  this  head  :  "  You,"  says 
he,!  "  that  hear  me,  never  forget  that  I  am  the  man  who  thus 
teaches,  and  without  any  new  inquiry  submit  to  this  word." 

The  Lutheran  thought  to  escape,  by  saying  that  Luther  had 
recanted  :  but  the  Calvinist  nonplusses  him  when  he  demands,;]] 
*'  where  is  this  recantation  of  Luther  1  It  is  true,"  proceeds 
he,  "  he  has  begged  we  would  excuse,  in  his  first  books,  some 
remnants  of  Popery  in  regard  to  indulgences  :  but  as  to  what 
regards  Free-will,  he  never  changed  a  tittle  of  his  doctrine." 
And,  indeed,  it  is  very  certain  that  the  above-said  monsters  of 
impiety  were  far  from  being  derived  from  Popery,  which,  as 
Luther  acknowledges  in  all  these  places,  held  them  in  execration. 

JVI.  Jurieu,  in  that  respect,  is  of  the  same  opinion  with  us, 
and  declares,§  "  he  holds  in  abhorrence  these  Dogmas  of  Lu- 
ther, as  impious,  horrible,  frightful,  deserving  every  £mathema, 
introductive  of  Manicheism,  and  subversive  of  all  religion." 
He  is  sorry  to  see  himself  obliged  to  speak  thus  of  the  head  of 
the  Reformation.  "  I  speak  it,"  says  he, "  with  grief,  and  favor, 
as  much  as  I  am  able,  the  memory  of  this  great  man."  This 
is,  therefore,  one  of  those  confessions,  which  the  evidence  of 
truth  extorts  from  men,  how  much  soever  against  their  will ; 
and,  in  fine,  the  author  of  the  Reformation,  by  the  very  confes- 

*  S.  1.  ii.  n.  17.  Jur.  part  ii.  c.  viii.  p.  210,  et.  seq.  f  S.  1.  ii.  n.  17. 

I  Jur.  Ibid.  pp.  217,  218.  §  Jur.  part  ii.  c.  viii.  pp.  211,  214,  et  seq. 

VOL.  II.  29 


338  THE    HISTORY    OP  [apP.   TO 

sion  of  the  Reformed,  is  convicted  of  being  an  impious  blas- 
phemer against  God  :  a  great  man,  after  this,  as  much  as  they 
please  ;  for  to  have  sounded  the  alarm  against  Rome,  is  merit 
enough  in  the  Reformation  for  any  titles  whatever.  Melanc- 
thon  is  guilty  of  this  wicked  doctrine,  which  destroys  all  re- 
ligion. M.  Jurieu  has  convicted  him  of  uttering  the  same 
blasphemies  as  his  master  ;*  and  instead  of  detesting  them,  as 
they  deserved,  of  never  having  retracted  them  but  too  faintly 
and  with  diffidence.  You  see  on  what  corner-stones  the  Refor- 
mation was  built. 

3, — Whether  Calvin  has  less  blasphemed  than  Luther. 

But  because  M.  Jurieu  here  seems  willing  -to  excuse  Calvin, 
he  need  but  cast  his  eyes  on  the  passages  of  this  author  already 
quoted  by  me  in  this  history  :  there  will  he  find"!"  "  that  Adam 
could  not  avoid  his  fall,  and  was  nevertheless  guilty,  because 
he  fell  voluntarily ;  that  it  was  ordained  by  God,  and  comprised 
in  his  secret  decrees."  There  will  he  find,  "  that  a  hidden 
counsel  of  God  is  the  cause  of  hardness  of  heart ;  that  we  must 
not  deny  that  God  willed  and  decreed  the  defection  of  Adam, 
since  he  does  all  he  wills  ;  that  this  decree,  he  must  confess, 
raises  horror ;  yet,  after  all,  it  cannot  be  denied  but  God  fore- 
saw the  fall  of  man,  because  he  had  ordained  it  by  his  own  de- 
cree ;  that  we  ought  not  to  use  the  word  permission,  since  it  is 
an  express  order ;  that  the  will  of  God  makes  the  necessity  of 
things  ;  and  all  he  hath  willed  happens  necessarily;  that  it  was 
for  this  reason  Adam  fell  by  an  order  of  God's  providence,  and 
because  God  had  so  judged  it  fitting,  although  he  fell  through 
his  own  fault ;  that  the  reprobate  are  inexcusable,  although  they 
cannot  shun  the  necessity  of  sinning ;  and  that  this  necessity 
befalls  them  by  God's  appointment ;  J  that  God  speaks  to  them, 
but  on  purpose  to  make  them  the  more  deaf;  that  he  places 
light  before  their  eyes,  but  on  purpose  to  blind  them ;  that  he 
applies  sound  doctrine  to  them,  but  on  purpose  to  render  them 
the  more  insensible ;  that  he  sends  them  remedies,  but  to  the 
end  they  may  not  be  cured." 

What  is  here  wanting  to  make  Calvin  as  complete  a  Mani- 
chean  as  Luther  ?§ 

What,  therefore,  does  it  avail  M.  Jurieu  to  have  quoted  us 

some  passages  of  Calvin,  where  he  seems  to  say  that  man  was 

free  in  Adam,  and  fell  in  Adam  by  his  own  will ;   since  it  is 

otherwise  certain  from  Calvin  himself,  that  this  will  of  Adam 

was  the  necessary  effect  of  a  special  decree  of  God?     And, 

indeed,  the  truth  is,  this  minister  has  not  pretended  absolutely 

*  Jur.  part.  ii.  c.  viii.  p.  24.  ]  S.  1.  xiv.  n.  4.  Opusc.  de  praed.  pp.  704. 
705,  Inst.  iii.  xxiii.  i.  pp.  1,  7,  8,  9.  |  S.  1.  xxiv.  n.  13. 

§  Jur.  part  ii.  c.  adii.  ibid.  p.  214. 


BOOK  XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  339 

to  excuse  Calvin,  but  contents  himself  with  saying  only,  "  he 
was  sober  in  comparison  to  Luther  :"*  but  we  have  just  heard 
him  speak  not  less  extravagantly  and  impiously  than  Luther. 

I  have  also  produced  Beza's  words,|  which  manifestly  refer 
all  sins  to  the  will  of  God  as  their  first  cause.  Thus,  beyond 
all  dispute,  the  heads  of  both  parties  of  the  Reformation,  Luther 
and  Melancthon  on  one  side,  Calvin  and  Beza  on  the  other,  the 
masters  and  disciples,  equally  are  convicted  of  Manicheism  and 
impiety  ;  and  M.  Jurieu  has  had  reason  to  confess  candidly  of 
the  Reformers  in  general,  that  they  taught  that  "  God  drove  on 
wicked  men  to  enormous  crimes. "J 

4. — Jinolher  recrimination  of  the  Minister  Jurieu. — The  Lutherans  convicted 

of  Pelagianism. 

The  Calvinist  returns  to  the  charge,  and  here  is  another  re- 
crimination not  less  remarkable.  You  upbraid  us,  says  he  to 
the  Lutherans,  with  our  irresistible  grace  :  but  in  order  to  make 
it  resistible  you  run  to  the  opposite  extreme  ;  and,  unlike  to 
your  master  Luther,  who  in  matter  of  grace,  so  far  outwent  all 
bounds  "  as  to  make  himself  suspected  of  Manicheism,"  you 
do  the  like  in  Free-will,  so  as  to  turn  Demi-Pelagians,  since 
you  attribute  to  it  the  beginning  of  salvation.  §  Which  he  makes 
evident  by  the  same  proofs  we  have  made  use  of  in  this  history, 
by  showing  the  Lutherans  that,  according  to  them,  the  grace  of 
conversion  depends  on  the  care  they  themselves  take  to  hear 
the  word  preached.  I  have  clearly  demonstrated  this  Demi- 
Pelagianism  of  the  Lutherans  from  the  book  of  Concord,  and 
from  other  testimonies  ;  but  the  minister  strengthens  my  proofs 
with  the  testimony  of  his  adversary,  Scultet,  who  confesses  in 
as  many  words, II  "  that  God  converts  men,  when  men  them- 
selves receive  the  word  preached  with  respect  and  attention." 
Accordinorly,  it  is  in  this  manner  the  Lutherans  explain  the  uni- 
versal will  of  saving  all  mankind,  and  say  with  Scultet,  "  that 
God  will  infuse  contrition  and  a  lively  faith  into  the  hearts  of  all 
the  adult,  provided,  nevertheless,  they  do  beforehand  the  neces- 
sary duty  for  man's  conversion."  Thus,  what  they  attribute  to 
the  divine  power,  is  that  grace  which  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
preaching ;  and  what  they  attribute  to  Free-will,  is  rendering 
itself  beforehand,  by  its  own  strength,  attentive  to  the  word  an- 
nounced ;  which  is  saying,  as  clearly  as  ever  the  Demi-Pela- 
gians have  done,  that  the  beginning  of  salvation  comes  purely 
from  Free-will ;  and,  that  there  may  be  no  doubt  that  this  is  the 
error  of  the  Lutherans,  M.  Jurieu  produces  moreover  a  passage 
from  Calixtus,  where  he  transcribes  word  for  word  the  proposi- 
tions condemned  in  the  Demi-Pelagians  ;  for  he  says,  in  express 

*  Jur.  part.  ii.  c.  xiii.  ibid.  p.  214.  |  S.  1.  xiv.  n.  2,  3.  J  Ibid.  n.  4. 

§  Jur.  part  ii.  c.  viii.  p.  117.  S.  1.  viii.  n.  83.  et  seq.  xiv.  116.     \\  Jur.  p.  117. 


340  THE    HISTORY    OF  [aPP.   TO 

terms,*  "  that  there  remains  in  all  men  some  strength  of  the 
understanding,  of  the  will,  and  of  natural  knowledge,  which,  if 
they  make  right  use  of,  in  laboring  what  they  are  able  for  their 
salvation,  God  will  afford  them  the  necessary  means  to  arrive 
at  the  perfection  which  revelation  leads  us  to ;"  which  once 
more  makes  grace  depend  on  what  man  precedently  does  by 
his  own  strength. 

I  was  right,  then,  in  affirming  that  the  Lutherans  are  become 
true  Demi-Pelagians,  namely.  Pelagians  in  the  most  dangerous 
part  of  this  heresy,  it  being  that  by  which  human  pride  is  the 
most  flattered.  For  the  greatest  mischief  of  Pelagianism  is 
placing  man's  salvation  finally  in  his  own  hands,  independently 
of  grace.  Now  this  is  done  by  those,  who,  like  the  Lutherans, 
make  the  conversion  and  justification  of  a  sinner  dependent  on 
a  beginning  introductive  of  all  the  rest,  and  which,  nevertheless, 
the  sinner  gives  to  himself  merely  by  his  Free-will  without 
grace,  as  I  have  proved  evidently,  and  as  M.  Jurieu  has  also 
but  just  made  apparent  from  the  Confession  of  the  Lutherans. 

They  ought  not,  therefore,  to  flatter  themselves,  as  if  they  had 
escaped  the  Anathema  merited  by  the  Pelagians,  under  pretext 
that  they  are  only  such  by  halves ;  since  we  see  that  this  part 
swallowed  by  them  of  so  mortal  a  poison,  as  that  of  Pelagianism, 
contains  its  own  malignity  :  from  whence  one  may  perceive  the 
deplorable  condition  of  the  whole  Protestant  party ;  since,  on 
one  side,  the  Calvinists  know  no  way  of  maintaining  Christian 
grace  against  the  Pelagians,  but  by  making  it  inamissible  with 
all  the  other  aforesaid  inconveniences  ;  and  on  the  other,  the 
Lutherans  believe  there  is  no  avoiding  this  detestable  particu- 
larism of  Dort  and  of  the  Calvinists,  but  by  turning  Pelagians, 
and  abandoning  man's  salvation  to  his  own  Free-will. 

5. — Sequel  of   Recriminations. — The  Lutherans  convicted    of   denying    the 
necessity  of  good  xoorks. 

The  Calvinist  pursues  his  point :  and,  says  he  to  the  Luther- 
ans, "  it  is  impossible  to  dissemble"  your  doctrine  against  the 
necessity  of  good  works.  "  I  will  not,"  proceeds  he,  "  go  in 
quest  of  the  harsh  propositions  of  your  Doctors,  ancient  and 
modern,  on  this  subject."|  As  I  take  it,  he  glances  at  the  De- 
cree of  Worms,  where  we  have  observed  that  it  was  decided 
that  good  works  are  not  necessary  to  salvation.  But  without 
insisting  on  this  assembly,  and  other  like  decrees  of  the  Luther- 
ans, I  shall  observe  only  (says  he  to  Scultet)  what  you  yourself 
have  taught :  J  "  That  it  is  not  lawful  for  us  to  give  any  alms  to 
the  poor,  no,  not  a  farthing,  with  the  design  of  obtaining  forgive- 
ness of  our  sins."     And,  again,  "  That  the  habit  and  exercise 

*  Jur.  p.  118.  Calix.  Ep.  f  lb.  part  ii.  c.  ii.  p.  243. 

I  S.  1.  iii.  n.  12.  viii.  n.  32.  pp.  243,  244. 


BOOK  XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  341 

of  virtue  is  not  absolutely  necessary  for  the  justified  in  order 
to  be  saved  :  that  the  exercise  of  the  love  of  God,  neither  in 
the  course  of  lite,  nor  even  at  the  hour  of  death,  is  a  necessary 
condition,  without  which  we  cannot  be  saved."  Lastly,  "  That 
neither  the  habit  nor  exercise  of  virtue  is  necessary  to  a  dying 
person,  in  order  to  obtain  forgiveness  of  his  sins  ;"  that  is  to 
say,  "  a  man  is  saved,"  as  this  minister  concludes,  "  without 
having  done  so  much  as  one  good  work,  either  in  his  life  or  at 
his  death." 

6. — Another  recrimination  on  the  certainty  of   Salvation. — The  Lutherans 
convicted  of  contradiction  and  blindness. 

These  are  just  and  terrible  recriminations,  of  which  Dr. 
Scultet  will  never  clear  himself:  again,  here  is  another  no  less 
remarkable.  You  object  to  us  as  a  crime  (says  M.  Jurieu*  to 
him),  the  certainty  of  salvation  defined  in  the  Synod  of  Dort ; 
but  you,  who  object  it  to  us,  hold  the  same  yourselves.  There- 
upon he  produces  the  Theses,  wherein  Doctor  John  Gerard 
(the  third  man  after  Luther  and  Chemnicius  of  the  Reformation, 
if  we  believe  their  testimony  who  approved  his  w^orks)  advances 
this  proposition. "f  "  We  maintain  against  the  Papists  the  cer- 
tainty of  salvation  as  a  certainty  of  faith."  And,  again,  "  The 
predestinate  has  in  himself  God's  testimony,  and  says  interiorly 
to  himself,  '  he  that  predestinated  me  from  all  eternity,  calls  me, 
and  justifies  me  in  time  by  his  word.'  "  It  is  certain  he  wrote 
these  things,  and  others  every  whit  as  strong,  alleged  by  M. 
Jurieu  :  J  they  are  usual  with  the  Lutherans.  But  this  Minister 
reproaches  them,  with  reason,  that  they  are  not  consistent  with 
their  doctrine  of  the  amissibility  of  justice,  which  they  account 
as  a  capital  point ;  accordingly,  it  is  what  I  have  remarked  in 
this  history,  nor  have  I  forgotten  the  solution  proposed  by  the 
Lutherans,  and  even  by  Dr.  Gerard  :  but  I  do  not  vouch  for 
the  contradictions  the  Minister  Jurieu  upbraids  them  with  in 
these  words  :§ — "  It  is  a  thing  incredible  that  wise  men,  having 
eyes  in  their  heads,  should  have  fallen  into  so  stupendous  a 
blindness,  as  to  believe  one  is  assured  of  hiff  salvation  with  a  cer- 
tainty of  faith,  and,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  true  behever  may 
lose  the  faith  and  eternal  salvation."  From  thence  he  takes 
occasion  to  reproach  them,  that  their  doctrine  is  self-contra- 
dictory, that  their  universahsm,  introduced  contrary  to  Luther's 
principles,  has  brought  such  a  confusion  into  their  theology, 
"  that  there  is  none  but  is  sensible  that  it  has  no  longer  any 
manner  of  coherence  ;  that  it  cannot  be  self-consistent ;  that 
they  have  no  excuse  left  them."||     Thus  you  see  how  these 

*  Jur,  part  i.  c.  \'iii.  pp.  128,  129.  f  Gerard,  de  elect,  et  rep.  c.  xiii. 

The?,  pp.  210,  211.  J  Jur.  part  i.  c.  viii.  p.  129.  Sup.  1.  iii.  n.  39.  viil  n. 
60,  61.  §  Ibid.  11  Ibid.  pp.  213,  129,  131,  135. 

VOL.  II.  29  * 


342  THE    HISTORY    OF  [aPP.  TO 

men  treat  one  another  when  in  peace ;  what  do  not  they  do 
when  at  mortal  war  1 

7. — Another  recnmination. — The  monster  of  Uhiqnity. 

Besides  what  regards  grace,  the  Minister  also  charges  the 
Lutherans  very  home  with  their  monstrous  doctrine  of  Ubiquity, 
"  worthy,"  says  he,*  "  of  all  the  eulogiums  you  bestow  on  the 
decisions  of  Dort,  a  frightful,  huge,  and  horrid  monster,  of  a 
prodigious  deformity  in  itself,  and  still  more  prodigious  in  its 
consequences  ;  since  it  brings  back  the  confusion  of  natures  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  not  only  that  of  the  soul  with  the  body,  but 
also  that  of  the  divinity  with  the  humanity,  and,  in  a  word, 
Eutychianism,  so  unanimously  detested  by  the  whole  Church." 

He  shows  them  they  have  added  to  the  Confession  of  Augs- 
burg this  monster  of  Ubiquity,  and  to  Luther's  doctrine  their 
excessive  Universalism,  which  has  made  them  fall  back  into  the 
error  of  the  Pelagians.  All  these  reproaches  are  very  true,  as 
we  have  made  appear;!  and  here  you  behold  the  Lutherans, 
the  first  of  those  that  took  up  the  title  of  Reformers,  convicted 
by  the  Calvinists  of  being  all  at  once  Pelagians  in  formal  terms, 
and  Eutychians  by  consequences  indeed,;];  but  such  as  the  whole 
world  is  sensible  of,  and  which  are  as  clear  as  the  noon-day. 

8. — The  compensation  of  Dogmas  proposed  to  the  Ltitlierans  by  the  Minister 

Jurieu. 

After  all  these  vigorous  recriminations,  one  would  think  that 
the  Minister  Jurieu§  must  conclude  to  detest,  in  the  Lutherans, 
so  many  abominable  excesses,  so  many  visible  contradictions, 
so  manifest  a  blindness  :  no  such  thing.  He  accuses  the  Lu- 
therans of  so  many  enormous  errors,  only  to  conclude  a  peace 
by  a  mutual  toleration  on  both  sides,  notwithstanding  the  gross 
errors  both  .stand  convicted  of  by  the  testimonies  of  each  other. 

Here,  then,  he  proposes  that  marvellous  compensation,  that 
bartering  of  doctrine,  where  all  terminates  in  concluding  "  if 
our  particularism  be  an  error,  we  offer  you  a  toleration  for  errors 
much  more  strange."  Let  us  make  up  peace  on  this  founda- 
tion, and  mutually  declare  one  another  God's  faithful  servants, 
without  any  obligation  on  either  side  of  correcting  anything  in 
our  tenets.  We  allow  you  all  the  prodigies  of  your  doctrine  :|| 
we  allow  you  that  monstrous  Ubiquity  :  we  allow  you  your 
Demi-Pelagianism,  which  places  the  beginning  of  man's  salva- 
tion purely  in  his  own  hands  :  we  allow  you  that  horrid  dogma,ir 
which  denies  that  good  works  and  the  habit  of  charity,  any  more 
than  the  exercise  thereof,  are  necessary  to  salvation,  either  in 
life  or  at  death  :  we  tolerate  you,  we  receive  you  to  the  holy 
table,  we  own  you  for  God's  children,  notwithstanding  all  these 

*  Jur.  part  i.  c.  viii.  242.  f  S.  1.  viii.  n.  46.  J  Jur.  ibid.  §  Jur.  part  ii. 
c.  iii.  et  seq»  x.  xi.  p.  240.     |j  Part  i.  c.  viii.  p.  123.     II  Jur.  part  i.  c.  viii.  243. 


BOOK    XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  343 

eiTors  :  overlook,  then,  in  our  behalf,  and  in  behalf  of  the  Sy- 
nod of  Dort,  these  absolute  decrees  with  irresistible  grace,  the 
certainty  of  salvation  with  the  inamissibihty  of  justice,  together 
with  all  the  rest  of  our  particular  dogmas,  how  much  soever  you 
abhor  them. 

This  is  the  bargain  he  proposes  ;  this,  what  he  negotiates  in 
the  face  of  the  whole  Christian  world  :  a  peace  between  Churches 
calling  themselves  not  only  Christian,  but  also  Reformed  :  not 
by  agreeing  in  the  doctrine  which  they  believe  expressly  revealed 
by  God,  but  by  forgiving  mutually  each  other  the  most  unpar- 
donable errors. 

What  shall  be  the  issue  of  this  treaty  1  I  am  loth  to  foresee 
it :  but  will  be  bold  to  say  the  Calvinists  shall  gain  nothing  else 
by  it  but  an  addition  to  their  own  errors  of  those  of  the  Luther- 
ans, which  they  make  themselves  accomplices  in  by  admitting 
to  the  holy  table  those  as  the  true  children  of  God  who  profess- 
edly maintain  them.  As  for  the  Lutherans,  if  it  be  true,  as  it  is 
insinuated  by  M.  Jurieu,*  that  they  begin  for  the  most  part  to 
become  more  tractable  in  regard  to  the  Real  Presence,  and  offer 
peace  to  the  Calvinists,  provided  only  they  receive  their  Demi- 
Pelagian  Universalism,  the  whole  universe  will  be  witness  that 
they  have  made  a  peace  by  sacrificing  to  the  Sacramentarians 
what  Luther  most  defended  against  them,  even  to  his  death,  to 
wit,  the  reality ;  and  by  making  them  profess  what  the  same 
Luther  most  detested,  namely,  Pelagianism,  to  which  he  pre- 
ferred the  opposite  extreme,  even  the  horror  of  making  God 
the  author  of  sin. 

9. — The  means  proposed  by  M.  Juneu  for  advancing  this  agreement. — Princes 

sovereign  Judges  of  Religion. 

But  let  us  also  see  the  means  which  M.  Jurieu  proposes  for 
attaining  this  wonderful  agreement. "f"  "  In  the  first  place,"  says 
he,  "  this  pious  work  cannot  be  brought  about  without  the  con- 
currence of  the  princes  of  both  parties,  by  reason  that,"  pro- 
ceeds he,  "the  whole  Reformation  was  made  by  their  authority." 
yS  herefore,  in  order  to  promote  it,  we  must  assemble — "  not 
Ecclesiastics,  always  too  much  wedded  to  their  own  sentiments 
— but  politicians,"];  who,  in  all  appearance,  will  part  with  their 
religion  at  an  easier  rate.  These,  therefore,  shall  examine 
"  the  importance  of  each  tenet,  and  weigh  with  equity,  whether 
such  and  such  a  proposition,  supposing  it  an  error,  be  capable 
of  being  agreed  to,  or  incapable  of  being  tolerated  ;"§  that  is 
to  say,  what  is  most  essential  to  religion  must  be  debated  in  this 
assembly,  it  being  to  decide  what  is  fundamental,  and  what  not ; 
■what  may  be,  and  what  may  not  be  tolerated.     Here  hes  the 

*  Jur.  part  ii.  c.  xii.  p.  261.        f  Ibid.  p.  260,  n.  1.       [  Ibid.  n.  4. 
§  Ibid.  p.  263,  n.  8. 


344  THE    HISTORY    OF  [aPP.   TO 

grand  difficulty  :  but  in  this  difficulty,  so  essential  to  religion, 
"  the  divines  are  to  speak  as  lawyers,  the  politicians  are  to 
hearien  and  judge  under  the  authority  of  their  princes."* 
Here,  then,  manifestly  are  princes  become  supreme  arbiters  of 
relig'on,  and  the  substance  of  faith  trusted  absolutely  in  their 
handd.  Whether  this  be  religion,  or  a  mere  political  agreement, 
I  refer  to  the  reader. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  owned,  the  reason  alleged  by  M. 
Juricu  for  submitting  the  whole  to  princes,  is  convincing,  since 
in  reality,  as  he  has  just  told  us,  "  the  whole  Reformation  was 
made  by  their  authority. "f  It  is  what  we  have  shown  through 
the  whole  series  of  this  history :  but  now,  at  least,  this  fact,  so 
igno'ninious  to  Protestants,  can  no  longer  be  disputed.  M. 
Jurieu  confesses  it  in  plain  terms  ;  nor  must  we  wonder  that 
princes  have  vested  in  themselves  the  supreme  authority  of 
judgment,  in  regard  to  a  Reformation  which  they  themselves 
have  made. 

For  which  reason,  the  Minister  has  laid  it  down  for  the  ground- 
work of  the  agreement,  "  that  previously  to  all  conferences  and 
disputes,  the  divines  on  both  sides  shall  make  oath  to  obey  the 
judgment  of  the  delegates  of  their  princes,  and  to  do  nothing 
contrary  to  the  agreement. "J  The  princes  and  their  delegates 
are  r^ow  turned  infallible  :  obedience  is  sworn  to  them  before- 
han(5,  enjoin  what  they  will :  that  must  be  believed  essential  or 
indiiierent,  tolerable  or  intolerable,  in  religion,  which  shall  please 
them.  And  the  fundamental  points  of  Christianity  must  be 
decided  by  policy. 

10. — The  Calvinisls  ready  to  subscribe  the  Confession  of  Augsburg. 

Oae  no  longer  knows  what  country  he  is  in,  nor  whether  they 
are  Christians  he  hears  speak,  when  he  sees  the  foundation  of 
religion  given  up  to  temporal  authority,  and  the  sovereign  dis- 
posal of  it  resigned  to  princes.  But  this  is  not  all ;  after  this, 
a  Confession  of  Faith  must  be  agreed  to,  and  hence  should 
arise  their  main  perplexity  :  but  the  expedient  is  easy.§  They 
are  to  make  one  in  indefinite  and  general  terms,  which  the  whole 
world  shall  be  satisfied  with  :  each  must  dissemble  what  may  be 
displeasing  to  his  companion  :  silence  is  a  remedy  for  all  evils  : 
every  man  shall  believe  in  his  heart  just  what  he  likes, — Pela- 
gian, Eutychian,  or  Manichean  ;  provided  he  hold  his  tongue, 
all  will  go  w^ell,  and  Jesus  Christ  will  not  fail  to  look  on  both 
one  and  the  other  for  Christians  well  united.  What  shall  we 
say?  Let  us  deplore  the  bhndness  of  our  brethren,  and  be- 
seech God  that  the  enormity  of  their  error  may  at  length  open 
their  eyes,  so  as  to  become  sensible  thereof. 

♦  Jur.  part  ii.  c.  xii.  p.  263,  n.  8.  f  Ibid.  X  Ibid, 

§  Ibid.  c.  xi.  p.  245,  et  seq.  e.  :ai.  268. 


BOOK    XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,  ETC.  345 

But  here  is  the  finishing  stroke.  We  have  seen  what  Zuin- 
gliiis  and  the  Zuinghans,  Calvin  and  the  Calvinists,  judged  of 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg  :*  how  from  its  first  beginning  they 
refused  to  subscribe  it,  and  separated  themselves  from  its  de- 
fenders ;  how  those  of  France  in  all  succeeding  times,  in  re- 
ceiving all  the  rest,  have  ever  excepted  the  tenth  article  relating 
to  the  Supper.  We  have  seen,  among  other  things,  what  was 
said  at  the  conference  of  Poissy  ;"j"  nor  forgotten  what  Calvin 
then  wrote,  "  no  less  of  the  suppleness  than  of  the  obscure  and 
defective  brevity"  of  this  Confession,  which  was  the  cause,  said 
he,  "  that  it  displeased  people  of  good  sense,  and  even  that  Me- 
lancthon,  its  author,  repented  he  ever  made  it ;"  but  during  the 
present  great  prevalency  of  that  fond  desire  of  uniting  with  the 
Lutherans !  they  are  ready  to  subscribe  this  Confession ;  for 
they  are  very  sensible  the  Lutherans  will  never  depart  from  it. 
Well  then,  says  our  minister,^  "is  no  more  required  of  us  than 
to  subscribe  it  1  The  business  is  done  :  we  are  ready  for  this 
subscription,  provided  you  will  receive  us."  Thus  you  see  this 
Confession,  which  had  been  so  stoutly  rejected  these  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  all  of  a  sudden,  without  any  alteration  in  it,  will 
become  the  common  rule  of  Calvinists  as  it  is  of  Lutherans, 
upon  condition  each  one  shall  have  the  liberty  of  interpreting 
and  adapting  it  to  his  own  notions.  I  leave  the  reader  to  decide 
which  of  the  two  ought  most  to  be  lamented,  the  Calvinists,  who 
turn  with  every  wind,  or  the  Lutherans,  whose  Confession  is 
subscribed  only  with  a  view  of  discovering  in  it  a  doctrine  suit- 
able to  their  notions,  by  the  means  of  those  equivocal  expres- 
sions, of  which  it  is  accused.  No  man  but  sees  how  vain,  to 
say  no  worse,  would  be  this  projected  union  ;  what  would  en- 
sue from  it  of  some  real  consequence  is,  however,  as  says  M. 
Jurieu,§  "  that  one  might  make  thereof  a  good  confederacy, 
and  that  the  Protestant  party  would  make  the  Papists  tremble." 
These  were  the  hopes  of  M.  Jurieu,  who  would  be  well  enough 
satisfied  with  the  success  of  his  negotiation,  if,  failing  as  to  a 
sincere  agreement  of  minds,  it  could  at  least  unite  them  so  as 
to  set  all  Europe  in  a  flame  ;  but,  luckily  for  Christendom, 
leagues  are  not  made  as  doctors  wish. 

11. — Wondrous  motives  for  an  union  proposed  to  the  Lutherans. 

In  this  marvellous  negotiation  nothing  is  more  surprising  than 
the  artfulness  M.  Jurieu  uses  to  moUify  the  hard-hearted  Lu- 
theranso  What,  says  he,||  will  you  always  be  insensible  of  the 
complaisance  we  have  shown,  in  allowing  you  your  corporal 
presence  1.  "  Besides  all  these  philosophical  absurdities  which 
we  were  forced  to  digest,  how  perilous  are  the  consequences 

*  S.  1.  iii.  n,  3.  ix.  n.  88,  89,  1000,  et  seq.  f  Ibid.  n.  107. 

$  Ibid.  c.  xiii.  p.  171.  §  p.  262.  H  p.  240. 


346  THE    HISTORY    OF  [aPP.  TO 

of  this  dogma?"  Those  experience  it,  proceeds  he,  who  are 
obhged  to  endure,  in  France,  this  continual  reproach  :  "  Why 
do  you  reject  the  Cathohcs  after  having  received  the  Lutherans  ? 
Our  people  make  answer,  The  Lutherans  take  not  away  the 
substance  of  the  bread  :  they  do  not  adore  the  Eucharist :  they 
offer  it  not  in  sacrifice  :  they  deprive  not  the  people  of  one  kind  : 
so  much  the  worse  for  them,  we  are  told,  it  is  in  this  they  argue 
ill,  nor  follow  their  own  principles.  For,  if  the  body  of  Jesus 
Christ  be  really  and  carnally  present,  we  ought  to  adore  him  : 
if  he  be  present,  we  ought  to  offer  him  up  to  his  Father :  if  he 
be  present,  Jesus  Christ  is  whole  and  entire  under  each  species. 
Do  not  say  you  deny  these  consequences  ;  for,  after  all,  they 
flow  better  and  more  naturally  from  your  dogma  than  those  you 
impute  to  us.  It  is  certain  your  doctrine  regarding  the  Supper 
was  the  beginning  of  error :  the  change  of  substance  was 
grounded  thereupon  :  thereupon  was  adoration  commanded  ; 
nor  is  it  easy  to  withstand  it :  human  reason  directs  us  to  adore 
Jesus  Christ  wheresoever  he  is.  Not  that  this  reason  is  always 
good,  for  God  is  in  a  piece  of  wood  and  in  a  stone,  yet  we  may 
not  pdore  a  stone  or  wood  ;  but,  after  all,  the  mind  is  carried  to 
it  by  its  own  propensity,"  and  as  natural  as  the  elements  tend 
to  their  centre  :  a  great  struggle  is  required  "  to  hinder  our  fall- 
ing into  this  precipice" — (this  precipice  is  worshipping  Jesus 
Christ  where  he  is  present)  ;  "  and  I  nowise  doubt,"  proceeds 
our  Author,  "  but  that  the  simple  amongst  you  would  fall  into 
it,  were  they  not  prevented  by  the  continual  contests  with  the 
Papists."  Open  your  eyes,  ye  Lutherans,  and  suffer  the  Ca- 
thohv^s  to  speak  thus  to  you  in  their  turn.  We  do  not  propose 
that  you  should  worship  wood  or  stone  because  God  is  in  them  : 
we  propose  to  you  to  worship  Jesus  Christ  where  you  acknowl- 
edge he  is,  by  so  special  a  presence,  attested  by  so  particular 
and  divine  a  testimony  :  "  reason  directs  you  to  it  of  course  ; 
the  mind  is  carried  to  it  by  its  own  propensity."  Simple  minds, 
void  of  contention,  would  follow  so  natural  a  bent,  if  continual 
disputes  did  not  restrain  them  ;  nor  is  it  anytliing  but  the  spirit 
of  contention  that  can  hinder  the  adoration  of  Jesus  Christ 
wheie  he  is  believed  so  present. 

12. — Both  parties  irreconcilable  in  the  main,  according  to  the  Minister  Jurieu. 
Such  are  the  conditions  of  the  agreement  at  this  day  in  treaty 
between  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  ;  such  are  the  means  they 
are  to  use  for  attaining  it ;  and  such  the  reasons  employed  to 
persuade  and  move  the  Lutherans.  And  let  not  these  people 
go  away  with  the  notion,  that  our  speaking  of  it  in  this  manner 
proceeds  from  some  fear  we  may  be  in  of  their  re-union,  which, 
after  all,  will  never  be  anything  better  than  grimace  and  cabal ; 
for  in  short,  for  them  to  convince  one  another  is  a  thing  judged 


BOOK    XIV.]  THE    VARIATIONS,    ETC.  347 

impossible  even  by  M.  Jiirieu.  "  Never,"*  says  he,  "  will 
either  of  the  parties  suffer  itself  to  be  led  in  triumph ;  and  to 
propose  an  agreement  between  the  Lutherans  and  Calvi^iists, 
on  condition  that  one  party  shall  renounce  its  doctrine,  is  the 
same  as  if  you  should  propose  to  the  Spaniards  as  a  means  of 
agreement,  to  give  up  all  their  provinces  and  fortresses  into  the 
hands  of  the  French.  That,"  says  he,  "is  neither  just  nor 
possible."  Who  does  not  see,  on  this  foundation,  that  the  Lu- 
therans and  Calvinists  are  in  the  main  two  nations  as  irrecon- 
cilable and  incompatible  as  any?  They  may  join  in  confede- 
racies, but  that  they  ever  will  be  able  to  arrive  at  a  Christian 
agreement  by  the  conformity  of  sentiments,  were  manifest  folly 
to  believe.  Nevertheless,  they  will  still  continue  to  say,  and 
one  as  much  as  the  other,  that  the  Scripture  is  clear,  although 
conscious  in  their  hearts  that  this  alone  can  never  terminate 
the  least  dispute  ;  and  all  they  can  do  is  to  patch  up  agree- 
ments, and  dissemble  what  they  believe  to  be  the  truth  clearly 
revealed  by  God,  or  at  all  events  to  disguise  it,  as  they  have 
endeavored  a  thousand  times  to  do,  under  equivocal  expressions. 

Let  them,  therefore,  do  what  they  think  fit,  and  whatsoever 
God  shall  suffer  them  to  do  in  respect  to  these  vain  projects  of 
agreements  ;  they  will  be  eternally  the  mutual  punishment  and 
grievance  of  each  other :  they  will  bear  eternal  testimony  one 
against  another,  how  unhappily  they  usurped  the  title  of  Reform- 
ers, and  that  the  method  they  took  for  the  correction  of  abuses, 
could  tend  to  nothing  but  the  subversion  of  Christianity. 
13. — Q,uery  put  to  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists. 

But  here  is  something  still  worse  for  them.  Supposing  they 
were  arrived  at  this  mutual  toleration,  we  should  then  ask  them 
in  what  rank  they  would  place  Luther  and  Calvin,  who  make 
God,  in  express  terms,  the  author  of  sin,  and  thereby  stand  con- 
victed of  a  dogma  which  their  disciples  now  abhor?  Who 
does  not  see  that  of  two  things  one  will  happen,  either  that  they 
must  place  this  blasphemy,  this  Manicheism,  this  "  impiety 
which  subverts  all  religion,"  amongst  the  tenets  that  m.ay  be 
tolerated ;  or  in  fine,  to  the  eternal  ignominy  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, Luther  must  become  the  horror  of  the  Lutherans,  and 
Calvin  of  the  Calvinists  ? 

*  Jur.  ii.  p.  cap.  i.  pp.  138,  141. 


349 


INDEX 

TO 

THE    SECOND    VOLUME. 

REFERRING  TO  WHATEVER  OCCURS  UNDER  THE  SAME  TITLES  IN 
THE    FIRST   VOLUME. 


Jlbhition.  What  the  ablution  was 
wliich  the  Vaudois  condemned  in 
Baptism,  94. 

Jldam.  The  sin  of  Adam  ordained  by- 
God,  according  to  the  Calvinists, 
192. 

.^c^ftt'afion  of  Jesus  Christ  in  theEucha- 
rist,  rejected  by  the  Brethren  of  Bo- 
hemia, 133 — alterations  made  by  the 
Calvinists  in  respect  to  the  Adora- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist, 
231 — they  tolerate  in  the  Lutherans 
the  internal  acts  of  this  Adoration, 
and  reject  the  external,  which  are  but 
tokens  thereof,  2 32— Fide  Vol.  I. 

Jllhigenses  (The)  well  treated  by  the 
Calvinists,  and  why,  48 — those  of 
Toulouse  bore  the  name  of  Petro- 
busians,  63 — Council  of  Lombez 
against  them.  Famous  examina- 
tion of  these  Heretics,  64 — why 
they  are  called  Arians,  ih. — the  Al- 
bigenses  are  Manicheans,  and,  by 
consequence,  different  .from  the 
Vaudois,  68,  et.  seq. — The  Albi- 
genses  comprised  by  Renicr  in  the 
list  of  the  Manichean  Churches,  72 
— they  came  from  the  Manicheans 
of  Bulgaria,  ih. — the  Pope  of  the 
Albigenses  in  Bulgaria,  ih. — their 
profound  hypocrisy,  73 — the  agree- 
ableness  of  their  propositions  with 
those  of  Faustus  the  Manichean, 
ih. — their  hypocrisy  confounded  by 
St.  Bernard,  ih. — their  infamy,  74—' 
they  teach  that  the  effect  of  the  Sa- 
craments depends  on  the  holiness 
of  the   Ministers,  ih. — they  con- 


VOL.    II* 


30 


demn  all  oaths  and  punishment  of 
crimes,  ih. — proof  of  their  being 
Manicheans,  75 — Protestants  reap 
nothing  but  shame  by  challenging 
the  Albigenses  for  their  ancestors, 
78 — reflections  on  the  liistory  of  the 
Albigenses  and  Vaudois;  artifice 
of  the  Ministers,  107— the  Albi- 
genses unquestionably  Mani- 
cheans, 108 — the  Albigenses  of 
Metz  were  Manicheans,  109 — six- 
teen Churches  of  the  Manicheans 
comprehended  the  whole  Sect,  111 
— inevitable  condemnation  of  these 
Heretics  from  their  denying  their 
religion,  115 — how  the  Vaudois 
sprung  from  the  Manichean  Albi- 
genses, 142. 

Amboise.  Conspiracy  of  Amfeoise, 
1 6 — entered  upon  from  a  maxim  of 
conscience,  according  to  Beza,  ih. 
— the  riot  of  Amboise  was  the  Vv'ork 
of  Protestants,  and  had  rehgion  for 
its  motive,  i6. — the  Huguenots'  dis- 
covering the  conspiracy,  does  not 
justify  the  party,  18 — the  protesta- 
tion of  the  conspirators  does  not 
justify  them,  ih. — what  is  said  by 
M.  Jurieu  concerning  the  conspir- 
acy of  Amboise,  28. 

Amissibility  of  justice  received  by  the 
English  under  Elizabeth,  14 — doc- 
trine of  the  Arminians  concerning 
the  amissibility  of  justice,  202 — 
Vide  Vol.  I. 

Antichrist.  The  Synod  of  Gap  adds 
an  article  to  the  Confession  of  Faith 
on  purpose  to  declare  the  Pope  An- 


350 


INDEX. 


tichrist,  167 — Daniel  and  St.  Paul 
quoted  in  vain  to  prove  the  Pope 
is  Antichrist,  168 — the  Protestants 
discredit  themselves  by  this  doc- 
trine, ib. — this  doctrine  concerning 
Antichrist  was  not  in  any  act  of 
the  Reformation ;  Luther  inserts  it 
in  the  article  of  Smalcald,  169 — but 
Melancthon  opposes  it,  ib. — this 
doctrine  relating  to  Antichrist  how 
despised  even  in  the  Reformation, 
171 — it  is  refuted  by  the  most  learn- 
ed Protestants,Grotius,  Hammond, 
and  Jurieu  himself,  ib. — examina- 
tion of  Joseph  Mede's  and  the  Min- 
ister Jurieu's  doctrine  on  this  point, 
172,  173 — Jurieu  sets  a  new  date 
for  the  birth  of  Antichrist,  1 74 — he 
varies  and  is  for  advancing  the 
downfall  of  Antichrist,  175. 
Arminlans,  or  Remonstrants,  upheld 
by  Barneveld,  against  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  198 — they  are  condemned 
in  the  Provincial  Synods,  199 — the 
Synod  of  Dort  is  assembled  against 
them,  ib. — the  dispute  reduced  to 
five  heads ;  declaration  of  the  Ar- 
minians  on  these  five  heads,  ib. — 
the  purport  of  their  declaration  in 
respect  to  Predestination,  and  their 
doctrine  touching  the  Baptism  of 
Infants,  200 — their  declaration  con- 
cerning the  universality  of  Redemp- 
tion, 201 — their  doctrine  concerning 
Grace,  ib. — and  concerning  the 
amissibility  of  Justice,  202 — their 
whole  dispute  concerning  two  es- 
sential words,  203 — their  ground- 
work, viz.,  that  there  is  no  gratui- 
tous preference  in  behalf  of  the  elect, 
ib. — wherein  the  Catholics  agreed 
with,  and  disagreed  from,  the  Ar- 
minians,  ib. — tliey  require  of  the 
Synod  of  Dort  a  distinct  decision, 
204 — requests  of  the  Arminians, 
who  complain  they  are  judged 
by  their  adverse  parties,  217 — they 
insist  on  the  same  reasons  that  the 
whole  Protestant  party  employed 
against  the  Church,  i6.— their 
mouths  are  stopped  by  the  authori- 
ty of  the  States,  218 — they  protest 
against  the  Synod,  ib. — the  Synod 
of  Delph  in  order  to  silence  them, 
is  forced  to  have  recourse  to  the  as- 
sistance of  the  Holy  Ghost  promis- 
ed to  Councils,  220 — they  are  put 
in  hopes  of  an  CEcucnenical  Coun- 


cil, 221 — ^the  Arminians  are  depos- 
ed and  excommunicated  by  the  Sy- 
nod of  Dort,  223. 

Arminius.  Peter  du  Moulin  places 
Arminius's  opinions  amongst  things 
indifferent,  164 — Arminius's  dis- 
pute and  excesses,  193 — the  dis- 
putes end  not  with  his  death  ;  Bar- 
neveld upholds  his  disciples  against 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  198. 

Jlubertin.  This  Minister's  gross  eva- 
sion with  respect  to  the  behef  of  the 
Vaudois  concerning  the  Eucharist, 
89 — his  frivolous  objection  in  order 
to  show  that  these  Heretics  denied 
the  Reality,  90 — he  artfully  con- 
founds the  Vaudois  with  the  Albi- 
genses,  1 08 — Aubertin's  illusion  on 
the  same  subject,  112. 

Jy.  The  Synod  of  Ay  in  1615  ap- 
proves the  proposal  of  Peter  du 
Mouhn  for  a  common  Confession 
of  Faith,  163 — reflection  on  tliis 
approbation  of  the  Synod  of  Ay, 
164. 

Baptism  believed  useless  by  the  Mani- 
cheans,  45 — ceremonies  of  baptism 
despised  by  the  Vaudois,  94 — the 
brethren  of  Bohemia  re-baptized 
every  body,  128 — Peter  du  Mouhn, 
approved  by  the  Synod  of  Ay,  is 
against  condemning  the  necessity 
of  Baptism,  165 — doctrine  of  the  Re- 
monstrants, or  Arminians,  touch- 
ing infant  baptism,  and  what  they 
would  conclude  from  it,  200 — the 
Synod  of  Dort's  decision  on  infant 
baptism,  205 — Fide  Vol.  I. 

Barneveld  upholds  the  Arminians 
against  the  Prince  of  Orange,  198. 

Basil.  What  the  Council  of  Basil 
allowed  to  the  Cahxtins,  125. 

Berengarius  impugns  only  the  Real 
Presence,  47 — he  never  separated 
from  Rome,  48 — Berengarius  at- 
tacked the  Reality  after  the  Mani- 
cheans  of  Orleans,  314 — he  is  con- 
demned and  recants,  ib. — his  first 
Confession  of  Faith,  ib. — he  varies 
as  well  as  his  disciples,  and  makes 
a  second  Confession  of  Faith,  315 
— they  invent  Impanation  and  In- 
vination,  316 — their  Doctrine  oppo- 
site to  that  of  the  whole  Church,  317 
— Berengarius  owns  as  much,  ib. — 
no  necessity  of  a  General  Council 
in  order  to  condemn  him,  318. 


INDEX. 


351 


Bernard  (St.)  consulted  about  the 
Manicheans  that  dwelt  near  Co- 
logne, 61 — account  of  the  tenets 
of  these  Heretics,  whom  he  had 
been  well  acquainted  with  at  Tou- 
louse, 62 — he  confounds  their  hy- 
pocrisy, 73 — answer  to  the  objec- 
tion relating  to  the  credulity  of  St. 
Bernard,  77 — he  lays  nothing  to 
the  charge  of  Peter  de  Bruis  and 
Henry,  the  seducers  of  the  Tou- 
lousians,  but  what  he  knows,  ib. — 
what  he  says  of  the  behaviour  of 
the  Toulousian  Heretics,  112 — 
tliis  Saint's  memorable  answer  in 
regard  to  the  talse  constancy  of 
Heretics,  115. 

Beza  owns  that  the  conspiracy  of  Am- 
boise  was  undertaken  through  a 
maxim  of  conscience,  16 — he  is  for 
rising  in  arms,  ib. — what  he  says 
concerning  the  motive  of  the  Cal- 
vinian  wars  in  France,  26 — how  he 
authorizes  the  civil  wars,  ib. — what 
he  says  touching  the  assassination 
of  the  Duke  of  Guise  by  Poltrot, 
33 — Beza's  ridiculous  pretensions 
in  favor  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
Vaudois,  48 — what  he  says  of  their 
Doctrine  shows  they  were  not 
Calvinists,  101 — in  1571  Beza  pre- 
sides in  the  national  Synod  of  Ro- 
chelle,  where  those  that  were  for 
changing  the  Supper  article  in  the 
Confession  of  Faith  are  condemn- 
ed, 146 — by  the  Synod's  orders,  he 
answers  the  Swiss  offended  at  its 
decision,  that  it  only  regarded 
France,  1 50 — he  is  of  the  number 
of  those  that  were  deputed  by  the 
Frankfort  assembly  to  draw  up  one 
common  Confession  of  Faith,  153 
— he  m.akes  God  the  author  of  sin, 
192 — this  doctrine  of  Beza  taken 
from  Calvin,  193 — the  Dogmas  he 
adds  to  those  of  Luther,  ib. — what 
he  says  of  the  certainty  of  particu- 
lar men's  salvation,  194 — he  teach- 
es, after  Calvin,  that  justifying 
Faith  is  not  lost  in  a  criminal  state, 
196. 

Blandratus.  George  Blandratus, 
one  of  the  heads  of  the  Socinians, 
310. 

Bishops.  Constancy  of  the  English 
Catholic  Bishops,  who  are  deposed 
for  refusing  to  own  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's supremacy,  9, 1 3 — decisions 


in  matters  of  Faith  reserved  to  the 
royal  authority  by  the  declaration 
of  the  English  Protestant  Bishops, 
12. 

Bohemia.  The  sect  of  the  Bohemian 
Brethren  falsely  called  Vaudois, 
1 1 6 — why  they  disown  those  who 
call  them  Vaudois,  116,  117 — and 
Picards,  117 — tliey  boast  their  de- 
scent from  John  Huss,  118 — they 
divide  from  the  Calixtins,  124 — the 
bloody  wars  of  the  Calixtins  trouble 
all  Bohemia,  ib. — they  make  to 
themselves  an  ignorant  lay  Pastor, 
137 — weak  beginning  of  tins  Sect, 
ib. — they  only  took  the  name  of 
John  Huss  but  did  not  follow  his 
doctrine ;  their  extreme  ignorance 
and  assurance  to  re-baptize  the 
whole  world,  128 — their  tiuitless 
search  throughout  the  universe  af- 
ter a  Church  of  their  belief,  129 — 
how  they  sought  Ordination  in  the 
Catholic  Church  ;  reproaches  made 
them  by  Luther,  130 — their  Doc- 
trine in  respect  to  the  seven  Sacra- 
ments, 131 — they  change  it  in  their 
Reformed  Confessions  of  Faith,  ib. 
— what  they  thought  of  the  Eucha- 
rist, 131,  132 — the  manner  in 
which  they  refuse  to  adore  Jesus 
Christ,  a  proof  that  they  believed 
the  Reality  even  out  of  the  actual 
use  of  the  Sacrament,  133 — their 
uncertainty  and  affected  ambi- 
guities, 134 — the  Calvinists  and 
Lutherans  each  strive  to  bring  them 
to  their  side ;  they  inchne  to  the 
latter,  ib. — Luther  gives  them  his 
approbation ;  their  Festivals,  their 
Temples,  their  Fasts,  and  the  Ce- 
libacy of  their  Priests,  135 — they 
take  shelter  in  Poland,  136 — there 
they  unite  with  the  Lutherans  and 
Zuinglians,  lb. — what  disposition 
they  were  in  for  this  agreement, 
138 — reflections  on  this  union,  ib. 

Breaking.  Important  article  of  the 
Conference  of  Cassel,  concerning 
the  breaking  of  the  Eucharistic 
Bread,  234. 

Bidl,  a  learned  English  Protestant, 
maintains  the  Infallibility  of  the 
Council  of  Nice  and  that  of  the 
other  general  Councils,  299. 

Burnet.  His  imposition  in  asserting 
that  the  Doctrine  established  under 
Edward  VI.  was  not  changed,  8 — 


352 


INDEX. 


what  Mr.  Burnet  says  of  the  indif- 
ference of  the  English  as  to  the 
Real  Presence,  ib. — a  memorable 
passage  of  Mr.  Burnet  concerning 
the  English  Reformation,  14 — his 
illusion  in  regard  to  the  wars  of  the 
Huguenots,  24 — his  gross  mis- 
takes and  prodigious  ignorance  re- 
lating to  the  atiairs  of  France,  ib. 
— sequel  of  liis  fallacies,  25 — Vide 
Vol.  I. 

Calixtins.  The  Sect  of  the  Calixtins 
rises  up  in  Bohemia,  124 — why 
called  Cahxtins,  125 — the  Com- 
pactatum,  or  the  four  articles  al- 
lowed to  the  Calixtins  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Basil,  ib.- — the  Calixtins  dis- 
posed to  acknowledge  the  Pope, 
126 — the  reason  of  their  so  great 
respect  for  WickUff's  memory : 
their  ambition  hinders  them  from 
re-uniting  with  the  Church,  ib. — 
the  Bohemian  Brethren  separate 
from  them,  127. 

Calixtus,  a  famous  Lutheran,  estab- 
lishes in  Germany  the  union  of 
Sects,  and  is  followed  in  France  by 
the  Minister  d'Husseau,  263. 

Calumny.  The  decree  of  the  Synod 
of  Charenton  in  1631  convicts  the 
Calvinists  of  calumny,  230. 

Calvin.  His  connivance  at  the  con- 
spiracy of  Amboise,  20 — his  death, 
38 — in  what  manner  issued  from 
the  Vaudois  and  Albigenses,  143 — 
his  evasions  in  regard  to  the  vain 
predictions  of  Luther  concerning 
the  Papacy,  167 — he  made  God  the 
author  of  Adam's  sin,  193 — the 
Dogmas  by  him  added  to  those  of 
Luther,  ib. — his  Doctrine  of  the 
Certainty  of  Salvation  defined  by 
the  Synod  of  Dort,  212— Fide 
Vol.  I. 

Calvinists  (The)  of  France  receive 
the  English  Doctrine,  making  the 
King  head  of  the  Church,  13 — 
change  of  their  Doctrine,  15 — their 
conspiracy  at  Amboise,  ib. — they 
take  up  arms  by  a  maxim  of  R,eli- 
gion,  ib. — the  first  civil  wars  which 
the  v/hole  Calvinist  Party  concurs 
to,  20 — decisions  of  their  national 
Synods  in  approbation  of  their  arm- 
ing, 21 — what  spirit  actuated  them 
in  these  wars,  23 — their  false  pre- 
tence that  these  wars  did  not  con- 


cern Religion,  ib. — perplexity  of  the 
French  Calvinists  to  justify  these 
wars,  25 — they-  are  convicted  by 
Beza,  26 — their  other  wars  destitute 
of  all  pretext,  28 — whether  the  spi- 
rit of  their  Reformation  were  a  spi- 
rit of  meekness  or  violence,  29 — 
fatal  consequences  of  their  violent 
spirit,  30 — their  vain  excuses,  ib. — 
their  cruelties,  31 — why  our  Cal- 
vinists examine  less  into  the  ques- 
tion of  Free-will  than  the  Zuin- 
glians,  42 — the  reason  of  their  keep- 
ing such  a  stir  about  the  Albigenses 
and  Vaudois,  48 — the  present  Vau- 
dois are  their  Disciples,  101 — they 
have  not  one  contemporary  Autlior 
that  favors  their  pretensions  touch- 
ing the  Vaudois,  103 — all  are  wel- 
come to  the  Calvinists,  if  they  but 
exclaim  against  the  Pope,  124 — 
in  what  manner  they  descended 
from  the  Albigenses  and  Vaudois, 
143 — they  seek  in  vain  the  succes- 
sion of  Persons  in  the  precedent 
Sects,  144 — still  less  do  they  find 
amongst  them  the  succession  of 
Doctrine,  145 — many  Calvinists  of 
France  are  for  changing  the  article 
of  the  Supper  in  die  Confession  of 
Faith,  but  are  condemned  by  a  na- 
tional Synod,  145,  146 — they  as- 
semble at  St.  Foy,  and  give  the 
power  to  four  Ministers  of  chang- 
ing their  Confession  of  Faith,  154 
— a  letter  wherein  the  Calvinists 
own  Luther  and  Melancthon  for 
their  fathers,  156 — they  have  con- 
tinued to  our  days  the  project  of  a 
common  Confession,  but  always  to 
no  purpose,  ib. — they  receive  the 
Lutherans  to  their  Communion, 
157,  229 — the  unsettled  spirit  of 
Calvinism,  158 — the  Calvinists  de- 
test Piscator's  Doctrine,  ib. — the 
Doctrine  of  the  Calvinists  against 
Piscator  solves  all  the  difficulties 
they  object  to  us  on  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Mass,  159 — the  impiety  of  their 
Doctrine  touching  imputed  justice, 
as  it  is  proposed  by  the  Synods 
which  condemn  Piscator,  161 — re- 
flection on  their  procedure  against 
Piscator,  162 — tliey  add  an  article 
to  their  Confession  of  Faith  in  order 
to  declare  the  Pope  Antichrist,  1 67 
— intolerable  excesses  of  Calvinism 
concerning    Free-will,    192 — they 


INDEX. 


353 


make  God  the  author  of  sin,  ib. — 
they  believe  as  a  fundamental  point 
that  every  one  of  the  faithful  is  sure 
of  his  perseverance  and  salvation, 
194 — they  are  sensible  of  these  ex- 
cesses, so  contrary  to  tlie  fear  and 
trembling  prescribed  by  St.  Paul, 
ib. — they  maintain  that  justifying 
Faith  is  not  lost  in  a  criminal  state, 
196 — what  texts  of  Scripture  they 
ground  themselves  on,  ib. — the  per- 
plexity they  are  under  to  answer 
tliis  question,  "What  would  be- 
come of  a  Believer  should  he  die  in 
his  sin?"  197 — these  difficulties 
have  reclaimed  many  Calvinists,  ib. 
— they  are  contrary  to  both  the  Lu- 
therans and  Remonstrants  in  the 
point  of  Grace,  202 — contradiction 
of  their  Doctrine,  207 — they  pro- 
mise the  Arminians  an  (Ecumeni- 
cal Council,  221 — the  illusion  of 
this  promise,  ib. — the  Calvinists  of 
France  receive  the  Synod  of  Dort, 
222 — their  union  with  the  Luther- 
ans in  1631,  229 — they  never  before 
had  advanced  so  far  towards  it,  ib. 
— this  conduct  of  tlieirs  convicts 
them  of  calumny,  230 — they  tole- 
rate in  the  Lutherans  the  interior 
acts  of  Adoration,  and  reject  the 
exterior,  wliich  are  but  tokens  of 
the  former,  232 — their  perplexity 
concerning  the  distinction  of  funda- 
mental points,  233 — they  are  forced 
to  own  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is 
a  true  Church,  wherein  salvation 
maybe  had,  234 — the  Calvinists  of 
Marpurg  agree  with  the  Lutherans 
of  Rmtel  in  the  Conference  of  Cas- 
sel,  234 — what  is  said  by  the  Cal- 
vinists of  France  concerning  the 
visibility  of  the  Church,  252 — they 
own  that  the  Church  of  the  Creed 
is  visible,  ib. — they  always  suppose 
the  Church's  perpetual  visibility, 
253 — they  exclude  tlie  Church  of 
Rome  from  the  title  of  a  true 
Church,  254 — they  own  the  inter- 
ruption of  the  Ministry,  and  the 
cessation  of  the  visible  Church,  ib. 
— their  perplexity,  in  that  the  invi- 
sible Church  had  been  forgotten  in 
their  Confession,  255. 
Camerarius  writes  the  history  of  the 
Bohemian  Brethren,  1 16 — ^he  says, 
they  disown  those  who  called  them 
Vaudois,  117. 
VOL.  II.  30* 


Cameroti's,  and  his  Disciples',  Doc- 
trine concerning  universal  Grace, 
236. 

Catholics.  The  constancy  of  the  Ca- 
tholic Bishops  in  England  in  oppo- 
sition to  Glueen  Elizabeth's  innova- 
tions, 8 — demonstration  that  the 
Catholics  were  neither  ignorant  of 
nor  dissembled  the  Doctrine  of  tlie 
Vaudois,  95 — wherein  the  Ca,tho- 
lics  were  difp3rent  from  the  Remon- 
strants and  Lutherans  with  regard 
to  justifying  Grace,  203. 

Celibacy  of  Priests  retained  by  the 
Bohemian  Brethren,  1 35. 

Ceremonies  retained  by  Q,ueen  Eliza- 
beth, 4 — the  Ceremonies  of  Bap- 
tism despised  by  the  Vaudois,  84. 

Certainty  of  Salvation  taught,  40 — 
this  certainty  of  Salvation  the  chief 
foundation  of  the  Calvinian  Reli- 
gion, 194 — certainty  of  Salvation 
as  sure  to  Calvinists  as  if  revealed 
to  them  by  God  hims^elf,  ib. — this 
certainty  opposite  to  the  fear  and 
trembling  prescribed  by  St.  Paul, 
204 — the  Synod  of  Dort's  decision 
on  the  certainty  of  Salvation,  ib. — 
certainty  of  Salvation  a  false  allure- 
ment, 211 — whether  the  certainty 
of  Salvation  confirmed  by  the  Sy- 
nod of  Dort  be  different  from  trust, 
ib. — whether  this  certainty  be  a 
certainty  of  Faith,  213 — the  senti- 
ment of  the  DiA-ines  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, ib. —  Vide  Vol.  L 

Chcirenton.  The  Synod  of  Charenton 
in  1631  receives  the  Lutherans  to 
Communion,  229 — memorable  de- 
cree of  this  Synod,  ib. — conse- 
quence of  this  decree,  ib. — remarka- 
ble date  of  this  decree,  230 — great 
turn  in  controversies  by  means  of 
this  decree ;  it  convicts  the  Calvin- 
ists of  calumny,  ib. — it  makes  void 
the  chief  subject  of  their  rupture, 
231 — novelties  following  from  this 
decree,  i6. — decree  of  tlie  Synod  of 
Charenton  in  1620  in  approbation 
of  that  of  Dort,  222. 

Children.  The  Synod  of  Dort  ac- 
knowledges the  sanctification  of  all 
baptized  children,  216. 

Church.  Elizabeth  completes  the 
work  of  church-plundering,  13 — 
difference  between  tlm  conduct  of 
the  Church  and  that  of  Protestants, 
29 — eminent  sanctity  in  theCatho- 


354 


INDEX. 


lie  Church,  114 — the  Reformation 
allows  private  people  to  take  on 
themselves  a  greater  ability  for  un- 
derstanding sound  Doctrine  than  it 
allows  the  whole  Church  besides, 
225 — the  Calvinists  forced  to  own 
that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  a  true 
Church,  and  that  her  Members  may 
be  saved,  234 — the  cause  of  the 
Protestant  Churches'  Variations 
proceeded  from  their  not  knowing 
what  the  Church  was,  242 — the 
Catholic  Church  always  knew  her- 
self, and  never  varied  in  her  deci- 
sions, lb. — the  Doctrine  of  Catho- 
lics on  the  article  concerning  the 
Church,  243 — notions  of  Protest- 
ants on  the  pei-petual  visibility  oi 
the  Church,  ib. — this  Doctrine  re- 
lating to  the  Church  confessed  by 
Protestants,  is  the  ruin  of  their  Re- 
formation and  the  source  of  their 
perplexity,  244 — the  perpetual  visi- 
bility of  the  Church  confirmed  by 
the  Apology  for  the  Confession  of 
Augsburg,  245 — tliis  visibility  con- 
firmed in  the  Smalcaldic  articles  by 
the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ,  246 
— in  the  Saxonic  Confession  of 
Faith,  ib. — in  the  V/irtemberg  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  247 — in  the  Bohe- 
mian Confession  of  Faith,  ib. — in 
the  Confession  of  Strasburg,  248 
— in  both  the  Confessions  of  Basil, 
and  in  that  of  the  Swiss  in  15G8, 
ib. — the  beginning  of  their  Varia- 
tion ;  the  Invisible  Chur'^^-h  begins  to 
appear,  249 — the  Invisible  Church 
why  invented,  250 — what  the  Eng- 
lish say  of  her,  251 — what  the  pre- 
tended Refonned  of  France  say  of 
her  in  their  Catechism,  252 — they 
own  at  length  that  the  Church  of 
the  Creed  is  visible,  ib. — the  ex- 
pressions of  their  Confessions  of 
Faith  suppose  a  perpetual  visibility 
of  the  Church,  253 — there  they  take 
from  the  Church  of  Rome  the  title 
of  a  true  Church,  254 — there  they 
acknowledge  the  interruption  of 
the  Ministry,  and  the  cessation  of 
the  visible  Church,  ib. — their  per- 
plexity in  the  Synods  of  Gap  and 
Rochelle  on  accoimt  that  the  Invi- 
sible Church  had  been  forgotten  in 
their  Confession,  255 — how  impor- 
tant is  the  controversv  relating  to 
the  Church,  258 — the  Ministers  no 


longer  dispute  the  Church's  visibi- 
lity, ib. — according  to  the  principles 
«f  the  Minister,  Claude,  all  that  is 
necessary  for  Salvation  is  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  262. 

Claude  of  Turin,  an  Arian,  breaks 
Images,  and  is  accounted  amongst 
the  predecessors  of  the  Protestants, 
47. 

Claude  (M.),  his  frivolous  evasion 
wath  respect  to  the  Synod  of  Sainte- 
Foy,  where  a  design  was  in  hand 
of  making  one  common  Confession 
for  all  Protestants,  157 — how  much 
he  disapproves  the  Church  of  Ge- 
neva for  having  added  two  articles 
of  Faith  to  her  Confession,  237 — 
this  Minister's  vain  subtlety  in  order 
to  elude  what  the  Synods  of  Gap 
in  1603,  and  Rochelle  in  1607,  had 
decided  concerning  the  Church, 
256 — what  is  said  by  him  with  re- 
spect to  the  vocation  of  the  Re- 
formers, 257 — he  very  positively 
owns  the  Church's  visibility,  258 — 
this  visibility  enters  into  the  defini- 
tion he  makes  of  the  Church,  25D 
— he  saves  the  Elect  before  the  Re- 
formation under  the  Ministry  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  260 — according 
to  his  principles,  all  things  neces- 
sary for  Salvation  are  in  the  Clmrch 
of  Rome,  262 — he  owns,  that  be- 
fore the  Reformation  their  Doctrine 
was  unknown,  2C4 — he  vanes  with 
respect  to  the  Ciiurch's  visibility, 
266. 

Comnmnion,  under  one  or  both  kinds, 
held  for  indiffereat  in  the  ancient 
Church,  52 — Communion  under 
one  kind  impugned  by  John  Huss, 
123— and  by  the  Calixtins,  125— 
Communion  under  both  kinds  is 
granted  them,  ib. — demonstration 
in  favor  of  Communion  under  one 
kind,  235 — Communion  under  one 
kind  is  sufficient,  320. 

Compactatimi,  what  it  means,  125. 

Confession.  The  Vaudois  believed  in 
Confession  of  sins  to  a  Priest,  92, 
95 — sacramental  Confession  owned 
by  John  Huss,  124. 

Confession  of  Faith.  New  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  of  the  Helvetic  or 
Swiss  Churches,  38 — remarkable 
Confession  of  the  Polonian  Zuin- 
glians,  44 — a  spurious  Confession 
of  Faith  of  the  Vaudois,  105 — a 


INDEX. 


355 


Confession  of  Faith  falsely  attri- 
buted to  WicklifT,  121 — Confession 
of  Faith  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren 
in  1504,  wherein  they  acknowledge 
seven  Sacraments,  131 — this  is  al- 
tered by  them,  ib. — endeavors  are 
used  at  Frankfort  to  make  all  the 
defenders  of  the  figurative  sense  to 
agree  in  one  common  Confession 
of  Faitli,  152 — the  Lutherans  were 
to  be  comprised  in  this  Confession, 
ib. — qualities  of  tliis  new  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  and  deputies  named 
to  draw  it  up,  153 — consent  of  the 
Synod  of  Sainte-Foy  to  this  new 
Confession,  154 — the  project  of  a 
common  Confession  continued  to 
our  days  and  always  unsuccess- 
fully, 156 — the  Synod  of  Dort  de- 
clares their  Confessions  of  Faith 
may  be  retouched,  yet,  at  the  same 
time,  obliges  to  subscribe  them,  222 
— the  Church  of  Geneva  adds  two 
articles  of  Faith  to  her  Confession, 
237. 

Confirmation.  What  was  beUeved 
by  the  Vaudois  concerning  this  Sa- 
crament, 93. 

Conspiracy  of  Amboise — Vide  Am- 
boise. 

Constance.  Wickliff's  Doctrine  was 
not  calumniated  at  the  Council  of 
Constance,  120 — reasons  of  the 
Council  of  Constance  for  autlio- 
rizing  the  already  established  cus- 
tom of  Commimion  under  one  kind, 
320. 

Council.  By  the  Doctrine  of  the  Dort 
Synod,  Protestants  are  obliged  to 
submit  to  a  Council  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  220 — to  stop  the  mouths 
of  the  Arminians,  the  Synod  of 
Delph  is  forced  to  have  recourse  to 
the  Holy  Ghost's  assistance  pro- 
mised to  Councils,  ib. — the  Calvin- 
ists  promise  the  Arminians  an 
CEcumenical  Council,  221 — the  fal- 
lacy of  this  promise,  ib. 

Crosses.  The  new  Manicheans'  aver- 
sion to  the  Cross,  53. 

Crucifix.  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, retains  the  Crucifix  in  her 
Chapel,  4. 

Cnielties  of  the  Calvinists,  3 

Cup,  allowed  to  the  Calixtins  upon 
certain  conditions,  125. 

Decisions  in  matters  of  faith  reserved 


to  the  royal  authority  by  the  decla- 
ration of  the  English  Protestant 
Bishops,  12. 

Declaration  of  the  English  Protestant 
Clergy  in  regard  to  Glueen  Eliza- 
beth's supremacy,  10 — how  Pro- 
testants palliate  so  great  an  evil,  ib. 

De  Dominis.  Anthony  de  Dominis 
one  of  the  first  autliors  of  indiffer- 
ency,  268. 

Delph.  The  Synod  of  Delph  is  forced, 
in  order  to  silence  the  Arminians, 
to  fly  to  the  Holy  Ghost's  assistance 
promised  to  Councils,  220, 

Dort.  Convocation  of  the  Synod  of 
Dort;  its  opening,  199 — the  dis- 
putes there  reduced  to  five  heads, 
ib. — the  Synod's  decision  on  faith 
in  the  sole  elect,  and  on  the  certainty 
of  salvation,  204 — and  on  infant 
baptism,  205 — second  decision  on 
faith  in  the  sole  elect,  ib. — on  the 
certainty  of  the  faithful,  206 — what 
is  said  by  it  concerning  habits  in- 
fused, ib. — monstrous  doctrine  of 
the  Synod  on  the  inamissibihty  of 
justice,  207 — it  teaches  into  what 
crime  the  faithful  do  not  fall,  ib. — 
what  is  the  certainty  of  salvation  it 
admits,  208 — it  teaches  that  all  un- 
certainty is  a  temptation,  209 — in 
what  manner,  according  to  this  Sy- 
nod, man  justified  is  guilty  of  death, 
ib. — whether  the  sense  of  the  Sy- 
nod concerning  inamissibility  was 
taken  right,  and  whether  the  cer- 
tainty by  it  asserted  be  different 
from  trust,  211 — the  Synod  ex- 
pressly defines  Calvin's  doctrine  on 
this  point,  212 — it  approves  the  sen- 
timent of  Peter  du  Moulin,  ib. — 
whether  the  certainty  it  establishes 
be  a  certainty  of  faith,  213 — the 
sentiment  of  the  Divines  of  Great 
Britain,  ib. — sentiment  of  those  of 
Bremen,  216 — whether  the  Synod 
can  be  excused  from  all  these  ex- 
cesses; unanimous  consent  of  all 
the  votes,  ib. — the  Synod  owns  the 
sanctification  of  all  baptized  chil- 
dren ;  consequence  from  this  doc- 
trine, ib. — procedure  of  the  Synod, 
217 — it  silences  the  Arminians  by 
authority  of  the  States,  218 — the 
reasons  used  against  them  in  the 
Synod  condemn  the  Avhole  Protes- 
tant party,  ib. — there  it  is  decided 
that  iJie  weaker  and  newest  party 


356 


INDEX. 


ought  to  yield  to  the  greatest  and 
most  ancient,  2  J  9 — perplexity  of  the 
Synod  upon  the  protest  of  the  Re- 
monstrants, ib. — according  to  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  Protestants  were 
obliged  to  submit  to  the  Council  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  220 — resolu- 
tion of  the  Synod  obliging  to  sub- 
scribe the  Confession  of  Faith, 
which,  at  the  same  time,  it  owned 
might  be  mended  and  reviewed, 
222 — the  Synod  of  Dort  is  ap- 
proved by  the  Calvinists  of  France, 
ib. — it  deposes  and  excommuni- 
cates the  Arminians,  223 — the  de- 
cisions of  Dort  far  from  essential, 
according  to  M.  Jurieu,  ib. — the 
Minister  Jurieu  makes  the  Synod 
of  Dort  act  rather  by  policy  than 
truth,  224— the  Synod  of  Dort  heals 
none  of  their  evils,  and,  spite  of  its 
decrees,  M.  Jurieu  is  a  Pelagian, 
226 — connivance  of  the  Dort  Sy- 
nod not  only  at  the  excesses  of  the 
Reformers,  but  at  those  of  the  Ar- 
minians, 228. 

Du  Moulin  {Peter)  proposes  expe- 
dients for  making  one  common 
Confession  for  all  Protestants,  156 
— his  memorial  approved  by  the 
Synod  of  Ay  in  1615, 163— this  Mi- 
nister's remarkable  words  concern- 
ing the  dissimulation  he  would  have 
used  in  regard  of  this  common  Con- 
fession, ib. — reflections  on  these 
words  of  Du  Moulin  approved  by 
the  Synod  of  Ay,  ib. — Du  Moulin's 
inconstancy,  164 — he  will  not  have 
the  Real  Presence,  Ubiquity,  and 
the  other  Lutheran  tenets,  be  con- 
demned, 165 — Du  Mouhn's  senti- 
ment on  Grace  approved  by  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  212— Du  MouUn 
strenuously  opposes  Cameron  and 
his  disciples,  236. 

Du  Perron  (the  Cardinal)  grants  that 
the  Pope's  superiority  over  General 
Council  and  Secular  Powers  is  not 
of  faith,  330. 

Du  Val  (M.)  is  consulted  by  the  Ul- 
tramontanes  concerning  the  Pope's 
infallibility,  and  Iris  sentiments 
thereon,  330. 

Edward  VI.,  King  of  England ;  his 
Reformation  changed  by  Elizabeth, 
3 — the  twenty-ninth  article  of  his 
Confession  concerning  the  Eucha- 


rist is  changed,  6 — material  altera- 
tions in  his  Liturgy,  7 — in  Ed- 
ward's time,  neither  the  word  Sub- 
stance, nor  the  miracles  which  Cal- 
vin admits  in  the  Eucharist,  are 
employed,  9. 

Elect,  saved  under  the  ministry  and  in 
the  communion  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  before  the  Reformation,  by 
the  confession  of  M.  Claude,  and 
since  by  that  of  M.  Jurieu,  269, 270. 

Elizabeth,  Glueen  of  England ;  her 
profound  policy  ;  she  orders  a  ten- 
der of  hei  respects  to  Paul  IV.  at 
his  accession  to  the  Papal  throne, 
3 — she  engages  in  the  new  Refor- 
mation, 4 — her  scruples  in  four 
points,  that  of  the  Ceremonies,  that 
of  Images,  that  of  the  Real  Presence, 
and  that  of  the  regal  Supremacy ; 
her  judgment  on  the  two  first,  ib. — 
her  judgment  on  the  Eucharist,  5 — 
neither  the  word  Substance,  nor 
the  miracles  admitted  by  Calvin  in 
the  Eucharist,  are  used  under  Eliza- 
beth, 9 — her  Supremacy  in  Spirit- 
uals is  set  up  in  spite  of  her  scruples, 
ib. — she  completes  what  had  been 
left  undone  in  the  pillaging  of 
Churches,  13 — she  secretly  favors 
the  inclination  towards  a  revolt  in 
the  Calvinists  of  France,  15. 

England.  Variation  of  the  English  on 
the  Eucharist,  5 — the  English  are 
indifferent  as  to  the  Real  Presence, 
8 — the  Supremacy  in  Spirituals  is 
given  by  the  English  to  Glueen 
Elizabeth,  9 — the  Parliament  of 
England  reserves  to  itself  the  deci- 
sions in  matters  of  Faith,  1 1 — the 
Doctrine  of  the  English,  making 
their  King  Head  of  the  Church, 
condemned  by  the  Calvinists,  13 — 
remarkable  passage  of  Mr.  Burnet 
concerningthe  Reformation  of  Eng- 
land, 14 — the  English  reject  the  in- 
amissibility  of  justice,  ib. — the  sen- 
timent of  the  English  Divines  for 
the  certainty  of  salvation,  defined  in 
the  Synod  of  Dort,  213 — they  be- 
lieved that  justice  could  never  be 
lost ;  contradiction  of  their  Doc- 
trine, 214 — according  to  them,  faith 
and  charity  abide  in  the  worst  of 
sinners,  ib. — what  it  is,  according 
to  them,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  does 
in  such  as  abide  in  grievous  crimes, 
215 — the  Test  in  England  :  therein 


INDEX. 


357 


the  English  draw  near  to  our  senti- 
ments, and  condemn  the  Church  of 
Rome  only  through  manifest  error, 
239 — the  Enghsh  speak  ambiguous- 
ly of  the  Church's  visibihty,  251 — 
Vide  Vol.  I. 

Episcopius,  Professor  of  Divinity  at 
Leyden,  appears  at  the  head  of  the 
Arminians  in  the  Synod  of  Dort,  199. 

Equivocations  of  the  Manicheans  in 
Germany  in  matters  of  faith,  60 
— equivocations  of  the  Bohenaian 
brethren,  iS4. 

Error.  All  error  contradicts  itself,  210. 

Eucharist.  What  is  believed  by  the 
Swiss  or  Zuinglians  relating  to  the 
Eucharist,  43 — the  abominable  Eu- 
charist peculiar  to  the  Manicheans, 
55 — John  Huss  believed,  as  to  the 
Eucharist,  all  that  the  Church  of 
Rome  believes,  123. 

Faith.  Decisions  in  point  of  faith  re- 
sen'ed  to  the  Royal  authority  by  a 
declaration  of  Bishops,  12 — the 
Swiss  attribute  true  faith  to  the  elect 
alone,  40 — the  faith  of  theCalvinists 
of  France  put  in  the  hands  of  four 
Ministers,  155 — justifying  faith  not 
lost  in  the  state  of  grievous  sin,  ac- 
cording to  the  Calvinists,  196 — de- 
cision of  the  Synod  of  Dort  touch- 
ing the  faith  of  the  elect,  204. 

Fasts  practised  by  the  Bohemian 
Brethren,  135. 

Fathers  (Holy)  ;  how  they  answered 
the  Manicheans  in  respect  to  their 
practices,  51 — all  of  them  under- 
stood the  words  of  St.  Paul,  1  Tim. 
iv.  1 ,  as  meant  of  the  Manicheans,  ib. 

Festivals  in  honor  of  the  Saints  retain- 
ed by  the  Bohemian  brethren,  135. 

Figure.  The  Zuinglians  the  most  sin- 
cere of  all  the  defenders  of  the  figu- 
rative sense,  44 — it  is  endeavored  at 
Frankfort  to  bring  all  the  defenders 
of  the  figurative  sen  se  to  agree  in  one 
common  Confession  of  Faith,  152. 

France,  the  disturbances  of,  began  by 
means  of  Glueen  Elizabeth,  15. 

Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  is  assassi- 
nated by  Poltrot,  and  this  murder 
accounted  in  the  Preformation  an 
act  of  Rehgion,  32. 

Frankfort,  Assembly  of,  in  1577 ; 
where  means  are  used  to  bring  all 
the  defenders  of  the  figurative  sense 
to  agree  in  one  common  Confession 


of  Faith,  152 — this  Assembly  writes 
to  the  Lutherans  in  order  to  mollify 
them,  153 — it  lessens,  in  their  bo- 
half,  the  difficulty  of  the  Real  Pre- 
sence, 154 — diflference  between 
what  was  designed  to  be  done  in 
favor  of  the  Lutherans  at  Frank- 
fort, and  what  was  since  done  at 
Charenton,  157. 
Free-ivill.  Monstrous  Doctrine  of  the 
Zuinglians  or  Swiss,  touching  free- 
will, 41 — our  Calvinists  examine 
less  into  this  subject,  and  why,  42 — 
Free-will  destroyed  in  Calvmism, 
192 — how  it  acts  according  to  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  200 — Calvin's  and 
the  Calvinists'  error,  endeavoring 
to  make  Free-will  consist  with  Ne- 
cessity, 193,  204 — the  Council  of 
Trent's  decisions  on  Free-will  con- 
formably to  those  of  antiquity,  323 — 
Vide  Vol.  1. 

Gap,  the  national  Synod  of,  detests 
Piscator's  Doctrine,  158 — it  adds  an 
article  to  the  Confession  of  Faith 
to  declare  the  Pope  Antichrist,  167 
' — decision  of  the  Synod  of  Gap  on 
this  point ;  its  false  foundation,  170 
— occasion  of  this  decree,  ib. — this 
Synod's  perplexity,  because  the  in- 
visible Church  had  been  forgotten 
in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  255 — 
this  Synod's  memorable  decision 
on  extraordinary  vocation,  256. 

Geneva,  strange  answer  of  those  of, 
to  the  Arminians'  request  at  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  219 — decree  passed 
at  Geneva  against  universal  Grace, 
and  the  question  resolved  by  the 
Magistrate,  236 — the  Church  of 
Geneva  adds  two  articles  to  her 
Confession  of  Faith,  237. 

Germany,  present  state  of  controver- 
sies in,  235. 

God.  WickliflPs  Theology  concern- 
ing the  liberty,  the  goodness,  and  the 
poMerof  God,  118 — God  author  of 
sin,  according  to  theCalvinists,  192 
—Vide  Vol.  I. 

Gog,  and  Magog,  142. 

Gomar  maintains  Calvinism  against 
Arminius ;  his  disciples  take  the 
name  of  Counter-Remonstrants, 
and  the  Prince  of  Orange  upholds 
them,  198. 

Gomarists,  or  Counter-Remonstrants, 
198. 


358 


INDEX. 


Grace,  the  inamissibility  of,  defined 
at  Dort,  202— Doctrine  of  the  Ar- 
minians  on  Grace,  ib. — Cameron's 
andhis  disciples'  sentiments  on  uni- 
versal Grace  admitted  by  the  Doc- 
tors of  the  Dort  Synod,  236— Suf- 
ficient Grace  admitted  by  them,  ib. 
— decree  passed  at  Geneva  against 
universal  Grace,  ib. 

Grotius  demonstrates  that  the  Pope 
cannot  be  Antichrist,  171 — he 
proves  from  the  Protestants,  that, 
by  their  own  confession,  souls  may 
depart  out  of  the  body  without  be- 
ing wholly  purified,  328. 

Hebrew.  Decision  of  the  Swiss,  touch- 
ing the  Hebrew  text,  ridiculed  by 
the  learned  of  the  sect,  237. 

Henry,  disciple  of  Peter  de  Bruis,  in 
the  eleventh  century,  47 — secretly 
diffuses  his  master's  errors  in  Dau- 
phiny,  Provence,  and  about  Tou- 
louse, 62 — his  doctrine,  75. 

Heretics.  Cathohcs  and  Protestants 
agreed  in  the  punishing  of  Heretics, 
37 — memorable  answer  of  St.  Ber- 
nard on  the  false  constancy  of  He- 
retics, 115 — what  is  the  succession 
of  Heretics,  145 — character  of  He- 
resy owned  in  the  Reformation,  163. 

Huss  (John),  a  disciple  of  Wickliff, 
123 — he  imitates  Wickliff  in  his 
hatred  of  the  Pope,  ib. — says  Mass, 
47 — and  judges  no  otherwise  con- 
cerning the  Eucharist  than  those  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  123 — why 
John  Huss's  doctrine  was  doubted 
of,  ib. — he  was  a  Catholic  in  all 
the  now  controverted  points,  except 
Communion  under  both  kinds,  and 
the  Pope,  ib. — the  Bohemian  Breth- 
ren account  him  a  great  martyr, 
although  they  follow  not  his  doc- 
trine, 128 — Luther  accuses  John 
Huss  of  his  ignorance  in  the  point 
of  Justification,  130. 

Hussites  (The)  divided  among  them- 
selves, 127. 

Images.  Clueen  Elizabeth,  at  first,  is 
for  retaining  images,  4 — she  is  per- 
suaded by  false  reasons  to  condemn 
them,  nevertheless  retains  the  cru- 
cifix in  her  chapel,  5 — images  bro- 
ken by  Claude  of  Turin,  an  Arian, 
47 — they  are  honored  by  Wick- 
liff) 121 — and  John  Huss,  123. 


Inamissibility  of  justice  rejected  by 
the  Enghsh  under  EUzabeth,  14 — 
taught  by  the  Swiss,  40 — the  Dort 
Synod's  prodigious  doctrine  on 
inamissibility  of  justice,  207 — 
whether  it  was  right  understood, 
211. 

Incarnation.  This  mystery  an  impo- 
sition, according  to  the  Manicheans, 
50 — and  according  to  the  Albigen- 
ses,  109. 

Infallibility  owned  in  the  Church  by 
the  Minister  Jurieu,  292 — this  In- 
faUibility  admits  of  no  restriction  in 
dogmas,  296 — the  Church  is  ever 
constant ;  is  ever  in  possession  of 
the  truth  when  beginning  to  be  at- 
tacked ;  her  decisions  are  plain,  her 
steadiness  not  to  be  shaken,  313, 
318,  336 — Vide  Jurieu,  vide  Vol.  I. 

Innocent  III.  (Pope).  The  Vaudois 
come  to  ask  liis  approbation,  82 — 
he  approves  the  Institute  of  the 
Minor  Brethren,  ib. — he  holds  the 
Council  of  Lateran,  where  he  con- 
demns the  Vaudois,  84. 

Invocation  of  Saints,  received  by 
Wickhff,  121— and  by  John  Huss, 
113. 

Jane,  Glueen  of  Navarre,  exercises 
horrid  cruelties  on  priests  and  reli- 
gious persons,  31. 

Jerome,  of  Prague,  disciple  of  John 
Huss,  follows  him  entirely,  123. 

Joseph  Mede,  an  English  Protestant, 
renders  himself  famous  by  his 
extravagancies  on  the  Revelations, 
176 — he  accuses  St.  Leo  the  Great, 
St.  Basil,  and  the  rest  of  the  Saints, 
their  contemporaries,  of  idolatry, 
178 — Joseph  Mede  and  M.  Jurieu 
contradict  one  another,  186 — his 
prediction  in  behalf  of  the  King 
of  Sweden  no  sooner  uttered  than 
proved  false,  187 — what  was  dis- 
covered by  him  in  the  Revelations 
touching  the  Reformers,  196. 

Jurieu,  (M.)  what  was  said  by  him 
concerning  the  civil  wars  excited 
by  the  Calvinists,  28 — what  con- 
cerning those  who  teach  thedistinc- 
tion  between  Bishops  and  Priests, 
1 65 — he  maintains  the  Pope  to  be 
Antichrist,  and  an  article  of  Faith 
for  all  true  Christians,  172 — he  va- 
ries on  this  point,  176 — exposition 
of  M.  Jurieu's   doctrine   on   the 


INDEX. 


359 


11th,  12th,  and  13th  chapters  of  the 
Revelations,  172 — he  is  bent  on 
shortening  the  time  of  the  pretend- 
ed propliecies,  173 — he  owns  his 
prepossession ;  he  forsakes  his 
guides ;  and  why,  ib. — the  impossi- 
bihty  he  is  under  of  setting  the 
epoch  for  the  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  years  wliich  the  Reformation 
is  determined  to  allow  for  Anti- 
christ's persecution,  174 — he  gives 
a  new  date  to  the  birth  of  Anti- 
christ, ib. — the  time  not  suiting,  be- 
cause of  the  holiness  of  the  then 
Pope,  175 — Jurieu  changes  his 
mind,  and  is  for  advancing  the 
downfall  of  Antichrist,  175 — he 
makes  Antichrist  to  be  born  in  the 
person  of  St.  Leo  the  Great,  176 — 
absurdity  of  tliis  system,  ib. — vain 
shift  of  this  Minister,  177 — he  im- 
putes to  St.  Leo  three  evil  charac- 
ters, ib.- — he  accuses  St.  Leo,  St. 
Basil,  St.  Ambrose,  &c.  of  idolatry, 
178 — why  he  does  not  make  St. 
Basil  the  beginner  of  Antichristian- 
ism  as  well  as  St.  Leo,  180 — his 
ridiculous  calculation,  181 — he  ill 
explains  the  seven  Kings  of  the 
Revelations,  182 — explains  as  ill 
the  ten  Kings  of  the  Revelations, 
184 — frivolous  answer  of  M.  Ju- 
rieu on  this  head,  185 — the  opposi- 
tion of  Jurieu  and  Joseph  Mede  to 
one  another,  186 — his  ridiculous 
notions  concerning  the  Turk,  187 
— he  owns  the  Prophets  of  the  Pro- 
testant party  to  be  cheats  ;  his  idea 
of  the  Reformation,  188 — his  senti- 
ments on  the  decisions  of  Dort,223 
— Semi-Pelagianism  does  not  damn 
according  to  this  author,  ib. — ^he 
makes  the  Synod  of  Dort  act  more 
by  policy  than  truth,  224 — he  de- 
clares that  they  were  ready  to  bear 
with  Semi-Pelagianism  in  the  Ar- 
minians,  225 — he  is  a  Pelagian, 
notwithstanding  the  decrees  of 
Dort,  226 — befalls  back  into  the 
excesses  the  Reformers  were  guilty 
of  in  respect  to  the  cause  of  sin, 
227 — according  to  this  Minister 
the  disputes  touching  Predestina- 
tion do  not  longer  concern  any  es- 
sential point  of  religion,  233 — what 
he  confesses  of  the  Variation  of 
Protestants  in  regard  to  the 
Church's  perpetual  visibility,  259, 


266 — in  his  notion,  you  may  save 
your  soul  in  all  communions,  267 
— this  he  took  from  the  Socinians, 
ib. — he  comes  into  the  sentiments 
of  M.  Pajon,  268— is  blamed  for 
favoring  the  Socinians,  269 — 
grants  that  we  may  be  saved  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  ib. — owns  the  ex- 
cesses of  liis  Confession  of  Faith, 
273 — overthrows  the  ideas  of  the 
Reformation ;  impugns  the  doctrine 
of  his  Church  relating  to  excom- 
munication, 275 — amongst  his 
brethren,  Confessions  of  Faith  are 
nothing  but  arbitrary  contracts,  276 
— he  establishes  the  independent 
principle,  277 — he  makes  the  au- 
thority and  subordination  of 
Churches  to  depend  on  Princes, 
278 — he  confesses  that  this  his 
system  is  contrary  to  the  faith  of  all 
ages,  279 — he  contradicts  himself 
when  he  pretends  the  Council  of 
Nice  sides  with  liim,  280 — he  un- 
dermines the  authority  of  the 
Apostolic  Creed,  282 — he  accuses 
the  Church  contemporary  with  the 
Apostles  of  schism  and  heresy,  284 
— according  to  him  one  may  save 
himself  among  the  Socinians,  ib. — 
and,  by  the  same  principles,  among 
Mahometans  and  Jews,  285 — and, 
at  the  same  time,  speaks  pro  and 
co?i,  touching  the  perpetual  visibili- 
ty of  the  Church,  287 — and  touch- 
ing the  Universal  Church's  teach- 
ing and  preaching,  291 — he  will 
have  the  general  consent  of  the 
Universal  Church  to  be  a  demon- 
stration, 292 — he  condemns  his  own 
Church  by  the  character  he  gives 
to  the  Universal  Church,  294 — con- 
fessing the  infallibility  of  the 
Church,  he  must  confess  that  of 
General  Councils,  298 — he  takes 
from  pastors  the  title  of  judges, 
contrary  to  the  sense  of  his  own 
Churches,  300 — he  is  against  all 
subscribing  to  Councils,  301 — he 
is  for  sacrificing  truth  to  peace,  302. 

Justice,  inherent,  acknowledged  by 
Protestants,  321 — Vide  Justifica- 
tion. 

Justijication.  Luther  reproaches  John 
Huss  with  utter  ignorance  of  Jus- 
tification, 130 — Piscator's  doctrine 
on  this  head,  158 — detested  by  the 
Calvinists,  ib. — decree  of  the  Na- 


S60 


INDEX. 


tional  Synod  of  Privas  touching 
Justification,  160 — impiety  of  the 
Calvinist's  doctrine  on  Justification, 
as  proposed  by  their  Synods,  161 
perspicuity  and  plainness  of  the 
Catholic  doctrine  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, ib. — the  Arminians'  doctrine 
on  Justification,  202 — monstrous 
doctrine  of  the  Dort  Synod  on  the 
same  point,  207 — the  ancient 
Church's  doctrine  conformable  to 
that  of  Trent,  321— Vide  Vol.  I. 

Kelesiski,  a  shoemaker,  puts  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  Bohemian  Breth- 
ren, and  compiles  for  them  a  body 
of  doctrine,  127. 

Kings.  WicklifF's  pernicious  doc- 
trine concerning  Kings,  120 — sys- 
tem of  the  Ministers,  concerning 
the  seven  Kings  in  the  Revelations, 
confounded  by  the  terms  of  this 
prophecy,  182 — the  ten  Kings  in 
the  Revelations  evidently  as  ill  ex- 
plicated, 184. 

Leo  (St.).  Jurieu  makes  Antichrist 
be  born  in  the  person  of  St.  Leo  the 
Great,  176 — absurdity  of  tliis  sys- 
tem, ib, — three  evil  characters  at- 
tributed to  St.  Leo  by  this  Minister, 
ib. — pretended  idolatry  of  St.  Leo, 
178. 

Liturgy  of  Edw^ard  VI.  changed  in 
essential  points,  7. 

Lombez.  Council  of  Lombez  against 
the  Albigenses,  64 — history  of  this 
Council,  ib. 

London.  Synod  of  London  in  1562, 
wherein  Glueen  Elizabeth's  su- 
premacy is  received,  10 — Council 
of  London  against  Wickliff^  121. 

Luther  reproaches  the  Boliemian 
Brethren  with  their  utter  ignorance 
of  Justification,  130 — Luther  gives 
them  his  approbation,  and  how, 
135 — the  Calvinists  acknowledge 
Luther  for  their  father,  156 — Lu- 
ther's vain  predictions  concerning 
the  dov/nfall  of  the  Papacy,  167 — 
he  inserts  in  the  Smalcaldic  Arti- 
cles that  the  Pope  is  Antichrist,  169 
—  Vide  Vol.  I. 

Lutherans,  ill  treated  by  the  Polish 
Zuinglians,  44 — 'W'ho  afterwards 
enter  into  an  agreement  with  them, 
45 — the  Lutherans  unite  with  the 
Bohemians  and  Zuinglians  in  Po- 


land, 136 — departure  of  the  Luther- 
ans from  their  principles  in  this 
union,  and  how  they  may  vindicate 
themselves,  138 — reflections  on  tliis 
union,  ib. — how  the  Lutherans  are 
descended  from  the  Albigenses  and 
Vaudois,  143 — they  seek  in  vain 
the  succession  of  persons  in  these 
sects,  144 — they  find  still  less 
amongst  them  the  succession  of 
doctrine,  ib. — the  Lutherans  are  de- 
tested by  the  Calvinists,  as  defend- 
ers of  a  monstrous  opinion,  150 — 
Assembly  of  Frankfort  is  for  com- 
prehending the  Lutherans  in  the 
common  Confession  of  Faith  it  de- 
signed to  make,  153 — letter  written 
to  the  Lutherans  by  this  Assembly, 
ib. — difference  between  what  was 
designed  to  be  done  at  Frankfort 
and  at  Sainte-Foy  in  favor  of  the 
Lutherans,  from  what  was  since 
done  at  Charenton,  157 — the  Lu- 
therans of  Rintel  agree  with  the 
Calvinists  of  Marpurg  in  the  Con- 
ference of  Cassel,  234 — the  senti- 
ments of  the  Lutherans,  concern- 
ing universal  grace,  give  occasion 
to  those  of  Cameron  and  his  disci- 
ples, 235 — sentiments  of  the  Lu- 
tlierans  concerning  the  perpetual 
visibility  of  the  Church,  243 — Vide 
Vol.  L 

Lucius  in.  (Pope)  condemns  the  Vau- 
dois, 80. 

Lyons.  The  poor  men  of  Lyons. — 
Vide  Vaudois. 

Manicheans.  Errors  of  the  Mani- 
cheans,  progenitors  of  the  Albisien- 
ses,  50 — consequence  from  the  f^lse 
principle  of  the  Manicheans,  ib. — 
tliey  endeavored  to  justify  them- 
selves by  the  usages  of  the  Church, 
51 — their  spirit  of  seduction  and 
hypocrisy,  ib. — in  order  to  conceal 
themselves,  they  mixed  in  Catholic 
assemblies,  52 — history  of  the 
Paulicians  or  Arminian  Mani- 
cheans, 53 — their  conformity  with 
the  Manicheans  refuted  by  St. 
Austin,  54 — their  design  on  the 
Bulgarians,  and  Peter  of  Sicily's 
instructions,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
effect  thereof,  ib. — the  Manicheans 
begin  to  appear  in  the  West,  after 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1000,  55 — 
Manicheans,  tliat  came  from  Italy, 


INDEX. 


361 


discov^d  at  Orleans,  under  King 
Robert,  ih. — their  heresy  spreads 
itself  into  Gascony  and  Toulouse, 
56 — the  Manicheans  of  Italy  called 
Catliari,  and  why,  ib. — origin  of 
the  Manicheans  of  Toulouse  and 
Italy ;  a  proof  that  they  came  from 
Bulgaria,  57 — Councils  of  Tours 
and  Toulouse  against  them,  58 — 
their  conformity  with  the  Mani- 
cheans known  by  St.  Austin,  ib. — 
the  same  heresy  in  Germany,  ib. — 
sentiments  of  the  German  Mani- 
cheans, 59 — it  is  discovered  that 
they  held  two  first  principles,  60 — 
their  variations,  and  care  to  conceal 
themselves,  ib. — their  equivoca- 
tions when  examined  about  their 
faith,  ib. — these  heretics  examined 
in  full  audience  of  all  the  people ; 
tlieir  tenets  related  by  St.  Bernard, 
who  had  been  thoroughly  acquaint- 
ed with  them  at  Toulouse,  62 — 
they  styled  themselves  Albigenses 
and  Petrobusians,  63 — why  called 
Arians,  64 — their  notion  of  the 
Trinity  the  very  same  with  that  oi 
tlie  ancient  Manicheans,  65 — Mani- 
cheans of  Soissons,  ib. — these  here- 
tics met  with  in  Agenois  and  Eng- 
land, 66 — the  heretics  of  Montpe- 
lier  are  Manicheans,  68 — in  the 
list  of  the  Manichean  Churches, 
drawn  by  Renier,  the  Albigenses 
are  comprehended,  72 — demonstra- 
tion that  the  heretics  who  denied 
the  Real  Presence,  in  the  twelfth 
and  tliirteenth  centuries,  were 
Manicheans ;  notoriously  false 
supposition  of  the  Ministers,  1 08 — 
Manicheismat  Metz,  109 — sixteen 
Churches  of  the  Manicheans  com- 
prehend the  whole  sect,  1 1 1 — who 
were  those  amongst  them  called 
Cathari,  ib. — why  St.  Paul  calls 
the  doctrine  of  two  principles  ad- 
mitted by  the  Manicheans  a  doc- 
trine of  devils,  140 — why,  of  all 
heresies,  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  es- 
pecially characterized  none  but 
Manicheism ;  character  of  tliis  her- 
esy ;  hypocrisy,  lying,  and  a  seared 
conscience,  141. 
Marriage,  rejected  by  the  Manicheans 
as  bad,  50 — Variations  of  the  Mani- 
cheans of  Germany  in  relation  to 
marriage,  60 — in  what  respect  the 
Sacrament  of  Marriage  was  con- 
VOL.  II.  31 


demned  by  the  Vaudois,  95 — the 
Albigenses  rejected  lawful  Mar- 
riage, 108. 

Mass.  The  Vaudois  made  no  diffi- 
culty of  coming  to  Mass,  116 — 
Jolm  Huss  says  Mass,  123 — the 
Mass  offends  the  Bohemian  Breth- 
ren, 128 — antiquity  of  the  sacrifice 
of  Mass,  241. 

Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  upholds 
the  Gomarists,  198. 

Mauzzim,  of  Daniel,  how  interpreted 
by  the  Minister,  178, 179. 

Mede — Vide  Joseph  Mede. 

Melanctlwn.  His  bad  opinion  of 
Wickliff,  122 — acknowledged  by 
the  Calvinists  for  their  Father,  156 
— he  allows  that  it  is  an  easy  mat- 
ter to  come  to  an  agreement  about 
the  article  of  Justification,  326. 

Menon,  one  of  the  heads  of  the  Ana- 
baptists, 311. 

Merit  of  good  works  rejected  by  the 
Swiss,  39 — the  merits  of  Saints 
owned  by  Wickliff,  121 — the  merit 
ofworks  owned  by  John  Huss,  124 
— the  Trent  Council's  Doctrine 
concerning  the  merit  of  good  works, 
323— Vide  Vol.  I. 

Ministers  (The)  decide  that  the  CaJ- 
vinists  may  take  up  arms,  18,  21 — 
the  first  Huguenot  vA^ar  resolved  on 
by  the  advice  of  al!  the  Ministers, 
and  peace  made  r  otwithstanding 
their  opposition,  26 — proof  against 
the  Ministers  that  the  Albigenses 
were  Manicheans,  75 — artifices  of 
the  Ministers  in  respect  to  the  liis- 
tory  of  the  Vaudois  and  Albigenses, 
107 — notoriously  false  supposition 
of  the  Ministers,  in  order  to  con- 
found the  Vaudois  with  the  Albi- 
genses, 108 — two  objections  of  the 
Ministers  to  the  same  purpose  re- 
futed, 1 1 1 — the  Faith  of  the  French 
Calv'inists  trusted  iii  the  hands  of 
four  Ministers,  155 — the  Ministers 
cannot  believe  what  the v  say,  1 79 
— vain  shifts  of  the  Ministers  rela- 
ting to  the  business  of  Sainte-Foy, 
157 — the  System  of  the  Ministers 
touching  the  seven  Kings  of  the 
Revelations  evidently  confounded 
by  the  very  teims  of  this  prophecy, 
182 — their  fallacious  answer,  183 
— they  account  as  ill  for  the  ten 
Kings  of  the  Revelations,  184 — 
what  it  is  the  Ministers  have  dies- 


is 


362 


INDEX. 


covered  in  the  Revelations  concern- 
ing their  Reformers,  190 — the  Min- 
isters declare  that  Semi-Pelagian- 
ism  doth  not  damn,  223 — and  that 
they  were  ready  to  bear  with  it  in 
the  Arminians,  225 — the  Ministers 
themselves  very  much  relaxed  in 
the  observance  of  the  Dort  decrees, 
226 — the  Ministers  elude  the  de- 
cree of  the  Gap  Synod,  and  the 
thirty-first  article  of  their  Confes- 
sion touching  extraordinary  voca- 
tion, 256,  257. 

Ministry.  Interruption  of  die  Church's 
Ministry  owned  by  the  Calvinists 
of  France,  254 — before  the  Re- 
formation, the  Elect  saved  in  the 
Roman  Ministry  by  M.  Claude's 
confession,  260. 

Miracle.  Under  Edward  VI.  and 
under  Elizabeth,  none  of  the  Mira- 
cles admitted  by  Calvin  in  the  Eu- 
charist are  employed,  9. 

Montpellier,  the  Heretics  of,  were 
Manicheans,  68. 

Mystery.  What  is  that  Mystery  of 
Iniquity  specified  by  St.  Paul  ?  142. 

J^ismes,  The  national  Synod  of 
Nismes  in  1572;  changes  the  de- 
cree of  that  of  Rochelle  concerning 
the  Substance  of  Jesus  Christ's 
body  in  the  Eucharist,  151. 

OrdibarianSf  who  they  were,  109. 

Ordination.  Validity  of  Ordinations, 
vt  hereon  grounded  in  England,  1 1 
— how  the  Bohemian  Brethren  seek 
their  Ordinations  in  the  CathoUc 
Church,.  130. 

Parliament.  The  Parliament  of  Eng- 
land assumes  to  itself  the  decision 
in  points  of  Faith,  11. 

Parker,  Protestant  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  is  the  first  that  sub- 
scribes Elizabeth's  supremacy,  10. 

Patarians,  who  they  were,  72 — their 
infamy,  74. 

Paulicians,  or  Manicheans  of  Arme- 
nia, their  history,  53 — their  con- 
formity with  the  Manicheans  re- 
futed by  St.  Austin,  54 — their  de- 
sign on  the  Bulgarians,  ib. 

Pelagianism.  Spite  of  the  Dort  de- 
crees, M.  Jurieu  maintains  that 
Pelagianism  is  not  contrary  to 
piety,  226. 


Perrin  (Paul)  quotes  not  sO  much  as 
one  contemporary  Historian  in  his 
History  of  the  Vaudois,  103 — the 
books  of  the  Vaudois  produced  by 
him,  ib. — their  Confession  of  Faith 
which  he  produces  is  posterior  to 
Calvinism,  105. 

Peter  de  Bruis  appears  in  the  eleventh 
Century,  47 — he  clandestinely  dis- 
seminates his  errors  in  Dauphiny, 
Provence,  and  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Toidouse,  62 — he  is  chief  of  the 
Albigenses,  63 — examination  of  Iris 
Doctrine,  75 — St.  Bernard  charges 
him  with  nothing  but  what  is 
true,  77. 

Peter  Du  Moulin — Vide  Du  Moulin. 

Peter  of  Sicily  writes  the  History  of 
the  Paulicians  and  Manicheans  of 
Armenia,  53 — endeavors  to  prevent 
the  spreading  of  their  Sect  in  Bul- 
garia, ib. 

Petrobusians,  who  they  were,  63. 

Picards  (The)  disowned  by  the  Bo- 
hemian Brethren,  117. 

Piscator,  who  he  was,  and  his  Doc- 
trine on  imputed  Justice,  158 — his 
Doctrine  is  detested  by  the  national 
Synod  of  Gap,  ib. — by  that  of  Ro- 
chelle in  1607, 159— by  that  of  Pri- 
vas  in  1612,  160 — and  by  that  of 
.  Tonins  in  1614,  161 — reflection  on 
the  Calvinists'  procedure  against 
Piscator,  162 — Peter  du  Moufin 
puts  Piscator's  question  amongst 
those  things  which  are  of  little  im- 
portance to  Salvation,  163 — the 
Synod  of  Ay  approves  what  Du 
Moulin  says,  ib. 

Poland.  The  Bohemian  Brethren  fly 
thither,  136 — and  there  unite  them- 
selves with  the  Lutherans  and 
Zuinglians,  ib. 

Poles.  Remarkable  Confession  of 
Faith  of  the  Polish  Zuinglians, 
wherein  the  Lutherans  are  ill  han- 
dled, 44 — Ubiquity  taught  by  the 
Polish  Zuinglians,  45 — their  agree- 
ment with  the  Lutherans  and  Vau- 
dois, ib. 

PoHrot  assassinates  the  Duke  of 
Guise ;  this  murder  looked  on,  in 
the  Reformation,  as  an  act  of  Reli- 
gion, 32. 

Poor  Men  of  Lyons — Vide  Vaudois. 

Pope.  The  Pope  of  the  Albigenses 
in  Bulgaria,  38 — hatred  of  Wick- 
lilf  and  John  Huss  against  the 


INDEX. 


363 


Pope,  123 — all  goes  down  with 
Protestants  provided  the  Pope  be 
exclaimed  against,  124 — theCalix- 
tins  disposed  to  own  the  Pope,  126 
— the  Bohemian  Brethren  offended 
at  the  power  of  the  Pope,  127 — the 
Synod  of  Gap  adds  an  article  to 
the  Confession  of  Faith  on  purpose 
to  declare  the  Pope  Antichrist,  167 

^ — Luther's  vain  predictions  of  the 
Pope's  downfall,  ib. — Daniel  and 
St.  Paul  extravagantly  quoted  for 
proof  of  the  Pope's  bein^  Anti- 
christ, 68 — Protestants  disgrace 
themselves  by  this  doctrine,  ib. — 
the  ablest  Protestants  refute  this 
Doctrine,  171 — the  Pope's  authority 
over  General  Councils  and  the  tem- 
porals of  sovereigns  is  not  of  Faith, 
nor  ought  to  hinder  the  re-union  of 
Protestants,  330 — Jurieu  maintains 
that  it  is  a  fundamental  article  of 
Faith  to  beheve  the  Pope  Anti- 
christ, 172 — the  Pope's  infallibility 
is  not  of  Faith,  and  the  contrary 
opinion  cannot  be  condemned, 
either  as  heretical  or  erroneous,  or 
even  as  temerarious,  330 — Vide 
Vol.  I. 

Poplicans,  or  Publicans,  who  they 
v/ere,  67 — the  Ministers  make  the 
Vaudois  Manicheans,  by  making 
them  Poplicans,  ib. 

Prayer  for  the  Dead  rejected  by  the 
Bohemian  Brethren,  127. 

Predestination.  Doctrine  of  the  Ar- 
minians,  or  Remonstrants  touching 
Predestination,  200 — the  disputes 
about  Predestination,  according  to 
M.  Jurieu,  no  longer  intrench  on 
the  essentials  of  Religion,  233. 

Presence.  Glueen  Ehzabeth  will  not 
suffer  her  Divines  to  censure  the 
Real  Presence,  5 — the  indifference 
of  the  English  as  to  the  Real  Pre- 
sence, 8 — the  Real  Presence  im- 
pugned by  Berengarius,  47 — by  the 
Albigenses,  74, 76 — beheved  by  the 
Vaudois,  81,  87 — manifest  proof 
that  the  Heretics,  who  denied  tlie 
Real  Presence  in  the  twelfth  and 
tliirteenth  centuries,  were  Mani- 
cheans, 108 — Pt,eal  Presence  be- 
lieved by  John  Huss  and  Jerome 
of  Prai^ue,  123 — and  by  the  Bohe- 
mian Brethren,  131 — the  assembly 
of  Frankfort  minces  the  difficulty 
of  the  Fceal  Presence  on  purpose 


to  gain  the  Lutherans,  154 — Peter 
Du  Moulin,  approved  by  the  Synod 
of  Ay,  is  against  condemning  the 
Pteal  Presence,  as  believed  by  the 
Lutherans,  164r — the  Ptcal  Presence 
free  from  venom  by  the  Confession 
of  the  Ministers,  229— the  Real 
Presence  necessary,  230 — Vide 
Reality,  vide  Vol.  I. 

Pride  of  the  Vaudois,  85,  113,  115. 

Primacy  of  Glueen  Elizabeth  in  spi- 
rituals estabUshed  in  England,  9 — 
the  Catholic  Bishops  refuse  to  own 
it,  i6.— declaration  of  the  Protestant 
Clerg3Mn  favor  of  this  Primacy,  10 
— this  Doctrine  condemned  by  the 
Calvinists,  13. 

Principle.  The  Manicheans  admit- 
ted two  first  Principles,  50 — the 
Albigenses  did  the  same,  109 — 
why  the  Doctrine  of  two  Principles 
is  called  by  St.  Paul  a  Doctiine  of 
Devils,  140. 

Privas.  The  Synod  of  Privas,  in 
1612,  condemns  Piscator's  Doc- 
trine, 160. 

Prophets.  The  Prophets  of  the  Pro- 
testant Party  are  cheats,  188 — their 
interpreters  no  better  worth,  189. 

Protestants.  Difference  between  Pro- 
testants' conduct  and  that  of  the 
Church,  29 — what  is  the  succession 
of  Protestants,  46 — they  reap  no- 
thing but  shame  in  making  the  Al- 
bigenses their  progenitors,  78 — 
their  authority  with  respect  to  the 
original  of  the  Vaudois,  86 — Doc- 
trines which  Protestants  reject  in 
the  Vaudois  no  less  than  Catholics, 
96 — Protestants  propose  new  Dog- 
mas to  the  Vaudois,  97 — all 
pleases  them,  provided  the  Pope  be 
exclaimed  against,  124 — they  seek 
in  vain  for  the  succession  of  Per- 
sons and  of  Doctrine  in  the  Vau- 
dois and  Albigenses,  144 — they  dis- 
credit themselves  by  sa}ang  tlie 
Pope  is  Antichrist,  168 — wliy  those 
absurdities  endured  in  the  Protest- 
ant Party,  188 — the  Prophets  of  the 
Protestant  Party  are  impostors,  ib. 
— the  arguments  employed  against 
the  Arminians  in  the  Synod  of 
Dort  condemn  the  whole  Protest- 
ant Party,  213 — according  to  this 
Synod,  tlie  Protestants  w^ere  obliged 
to  own  the  Council  of  the  Cathohc 
Church,  220 — the  cause  of  Pro- 


364 


INDEX. 


testants'  Variations  proceeding 
from  their  ignorance  of  what  the 
Church  is,  212 — their  sentiments 
relating  to  the  perpetual  Visibility 
of  the  Church,  243 — this  Doctrine 
the  ruin  of  their  Reformation,  and 
the  source  of  their  perplexities,  244 
— what  precisely  the  Protestants 
are  obliged  to  by  this  Doctrine,  ib. 
— they  vary  en  this  head,  249 — and 
why,  250.— Vide  Vol.  I. 
Purgatory  believed  by  Wickliff,  121 
— and  John  liuss,  123 — what  pre- 
cisely is  to  be  believed  concerning 
Purgatory  agreeably  to  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  328— Protestants' 
principles  prove  the  necessity  of 
Purgatory,  ib. — the  Purification  of 
souls  after  this  life  owned  by  them, 
ib. — they  agree  as  to  the  main 
point,  but  leave  the  manner  unde- 
cided, ib. — Vide  Vol.  I. 

Reality.  Gluecn  Elizabeth  will  not 
suffer  her  Divines  to  censure  the 
Reality,  5 — indifference  of  the  Eng- 
lish, in  respect  of  the  Reality,  8 — 
the  Reahty  condemned  by  the 
Zuinglians  of  Poland,  45 — the 
Reality  denied  by  the  Albigenses, 
75 — believed  by  the  Vaudois,  81, 
87 — manifest  proof  that  the  Here- 
tics, who  denied  the  Reality  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
were  Manicheans,  108 — Reality 
believed  by  John  Huss,  123 — 
strong  expressions  of  the  Bohemian 
Brethren  for  the  Reality,  131 — the 
Reality  free  from  venom,  229 — 
Vide  Vol.  I.,  vide  Real  Presence. 

Rebaptization  of  tlie  Bohemian  Breth- 
ren, 128. 

Redemption.  The  Doctrine  of  the 
Arminians  concerning  the  univer- 
sahty  of  Redemption,  201. 

Reformation.  Clueen  Elizabeth  ap- 
proves not  the  Reformation  of  Ed- 
ward VI.  in  all  its  points,  3 — whe- 
ther the  spirit  of  the  Reformation 
was  a  spirit  of  meekness  or  vio- 
lence, 29 — effects  of  that  violent 
spirit  which  predominated  in  the 
Reformation,  30 — the  Reformation 
allows  private  men  to  arrogate  to 
themselves  greater  abilities  for  un- 
derstanding sound  Doctrine  than 
all  the  rest  of  the  Chm-ch,  225 — 
Sects  bom  in  the  Reformation,  309. 


Relics.  Vigilantius,  in  the  fourth 
century,  opposes  honoring  of  Re- 
hcs,  47 — St.  Leo,  St.  Basil,  and  the 
rest  of  the  Saints  of  that  time,  ac- 
cused of  Idolatry  by  the  Ministers, 
on  account  of  the  veneration  they 
showed  to  Saints  and  Relics,  178. 

Remonstrants —  Vide  Arminians. 

Renaudie  (La),  chief  of  the  Amboise 
conspiracy  J  his  character,  18. 

Revelations.  Illusions  of  the  Pro- 
testants relating  to  the  Revelations, 
169 — exposition  of  the  Minister 
Jurieu's  Doctrine  on  the  eleventh, 
twelfth,  and  thirteenth  chapters  of 
the  Revelations,  172 — the  system 
of  the  Minister  concerning  the 
seven  Kings  of  the  Revelations  evi- 
dently confuted  by  the  very  terms 
of  tliis  prophecy,  182 — the  ten 
Kings  of  the  Revelations  as  evi- 
dently ill  accounted  ibr,  184 — con- 
trarieties of  the  new  Interpreters 
of  the  Revelations,  186 — the  Eng- 
lishman finds  England,  and  the 
Frenchman,  France,  in  the  Reve- 
lations, ib. — what  it  is  that  the  Mi- 
nisters have  discovered  in  the  Re- 
velations toucliing  their  Reformers, 
190. 

Revenues  of  the  Church  plundered  by 
EHzabeth,  Q.ueen  of  England,  13 
—  Vide  Vol.  I. 

Revolt.  Besinning  of  the  Calvinists' 
revolt  m  France,  15 — open  revolt 
of  the  whole  party,  20. 

Rochelle.  The  national  Synod  of 
Rochelle  in  1571  condemns  those 
of  the  party  that  were  for  changing 
the  Supper-article  in  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  146 — decision  of  this  Sy- 
nod full  of  perplexity,  ib. — vain 
efforts  of  this  Synod  to  find  the 
substance  of  the  body  in  the  Cal- 
vinian  Doctrine,  147 — error  of  this 
Synod  endeavoring  to  explain  the 
mystery  of  the  Eucharist  without 
producing  the  institution,  148 — 
reason  of  the  Synod  for  establish- 
ing the  substance  ;  there  it  is  con- 
cluded that  the  other  opinion  is 
contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  ib. — 
it  says  more  than  it  designed,  149 
the  Swiss  believe  themselves  con- 
demned by  this  decision,  but  the 
Synod  takes  care  tliey  sliould  be 
answered  that  this  doctrine  only 
concerns    France,    149,  150 — the 


INDEX. 


S65 


decree  of  this  Synod  is  changed  in 
that  of  Nismes,  151 — the  Synod  of 
Rochelle  in  1607  condemns  Pisca- 
tor's  Doctrine,  158 — it  gives  orders 
that  the  decree  of  the  Synod  of 
Gap,  declaring  the  Pope  Antichrist, 
be  printed  in  all  the  copies  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  170 — this  Sy- 
nod declares  that  nothing  ought  to 
be  added  or  taken  from  the  twenty- 
fifth  and  twenty-ninth  articles  of 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  where  the 
Church  is  treated  of,  256. 

Roque  (M.  de  la).  His  want  of  sin- 
cerity touching  the  Vaudois,  86 — 
tliis  iVIinister  artfully  confounds  the 
Vaudois  with  the  Albigenses,  108 
— his  false  pretence  that  Wick- 
liff's  Doctrine  was  slandered  at  the 
Council  of  Constance,  120 — he 
proves  that  John  Huss  and  Jerome 
of  Prague  died  in  the  belief  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  especially  in 
what  regards  the  Eucharist,  123. 

Roque  (M.  de  la),  son  of  the  Minis- 
ter, produces  a  Confession  of  Faith 
of  Wickliff's,  where  the  Reality  is 
clearly  established,  121. 

Roquesaae,  cliief  of  the  sect  of  the 
Calixtins,  124 — he  utterly  destroys 
the  Taborites,  ib. — liis  ambition 
prevents  the  Calixtins  re- uniting 
with  the  Church,  126 — he  makes 
himself  Pope  in  Bohemia,  ib. — he 
permits  several  Greek  Priests  to 
celebrate  the  holy  mysteries  accord- 
ing to  their  Church  rites,  129. 

Runcarians,  who  they  were,  72. 

Sacrament.  The  Albigenses  taught 
that  the  eff:;ct  of  the  Sacraments 
depends  on  the  holiness  of  the  Mi- 
nisters, 74 — the  Vaudois  taught 
that  the  merit  of  persons  acted  in 
the  Sacraments  more  than  order 
and  character,  85 — the  Vaudois 
were  in  no  error  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  Sacraments,  ib. — what  it  is 
they  believed  of  the  seven  Sacra- 
ments, 93 — Wickliff  teaches  that 
the  effect  of  the  Sacraments  de- 
pends on  the  merit  of  persons,  120 
— the  seven  Sacraments  owned  by 
John  Huss,  123 — and  by  the  Bo- 
hemian Brethren  in  their  Confes- 
sion, anno  1504,  presented  to  King 
Ladislaus,  131 — they  reduce  them 
to  two,  as  Luther  prescribes  them. 


VOL.  II, 


31* 


ib. — they  make  the  Sacraments  de- 
pend on  the  merit  of  the  Minister, 
132. 

Sacrifice.  The  Calvinists'  Doctrine 
against  Piscator  solves  all  the  diffi- 
culties they  propose  to  us  relating 
to  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Eucharist, 
159. 

Sainte-Foy.  The  Synod  of  Sainte- 
Foy,  in  1578,  consents  to  a  new 
Confession  of  Faith,  in  view  of 
uniting  all  the  Protestants,  154 — it 
trusts  its  Faith  in  the  hands  of  four 
Mmisters  and  of  M.  de  Turenne, 
155 — vain  evasions  of  the  Minis- 
ters relating  to  this  affair,  157 — 
difference  between  what  was  de- 
signed to  be  done  in  favor  of  the 
Lutherans  at  Sainte-Foy,  and  what 
afterwards  was  done  at  Charen- 
ton,  ib. 

Salvation.  The  Calvinists  believe 
that  the  faithful  are  sure  of  their 
Salvation,  194 — the  Dort  Synod's 
decision  on  the  certainty  of  Salva- 
tion, 204,  209 — false  allurement  of 
the  certainty  of  Salvation,  211. 

Schoman.  George  Schoman,  one  of 
the  chiefs  of  the  Unitarians,  311. 

Scotland^  The  Doctrine  settled  in 
England  in  behalf  of  the  authority 
of  Kings  and  Parliament  as  to  mat- 
ters of  Faith,  is  also  set  up  in  Scot- 
land, 13. 

Scripture.  Abuse  made  of  the  Scrip- 
ture by  the  Vaudois  and  Albigen- 
ses, 113. 

Semi-Pelagianism  no  damning  error, 
according  to  M,  Jurieu,  223 — this 
Minister  declares  they  were  ready 
to  tolerate  Semi-Pelagianism  in  the 
Arminians,  225 — the  other  Minis- 
ters in  the  same  sentiment  with 
him,  ib. 

Sendomir.  Assembly  of  Sendomir, 
where  the  Lutherans,  the  Bohe- 
mians, and  the  Zuinglians  unite, 
136 — terms  of  the  Sendomir  agree- 
ment, 137. 

Sin.  God  the  Author  of  Sin  accord- 
ing to  the  Calvinists,  192— M. 
Jurieu  relapses  into  the  excesses 
of  the  Reformers  with  respect  to 
the  cause  of  Sin,  227. 

Siscidenses  (The),  a  sect  of  the  Vau- 
dois that  refused  not  to  receive  the 
Eucharist  from  the  hands  of  a 
Priest,  95. 


366 


INDEX. 


Sociiii.  Fausto  Socini  and  Lelio 
heads  of  the  Socinians,  311. 

Socinians,  The  Socinians  and  the 
Anabaptists  sprung  from  Luther 
and  Calvin,  310 — united  together, 
ibid. 

Soissons.  Manicheans  at  Soissons, 
65 — their  history,  66. 

Strasburg.  Variation  of  the  Church 
of  Strasburg,  312 — The  senate  of 
Strasburg  destroys  images,  and 
enjoins  the  communion  under  both 
kinds,  ib. — suspends  the  celebra- 
tion of  Mass,  ib. — those  of  Stras- 
burg turn  Zuinglians,  afterwards 
return  to  the  Confession  of  Augs- 
burg, ib. — they  fall  into  ubiquity, 
313. 

Substance.  Neither  under  Edward 
VI.,  nor  under  Elizabeth,  is  the 
w^ord  Substance  employed,  which 
Calvin  admits  in  the  Eucharist,  9 — 
the  Zuinghans'  Supper  void  of  Sub- 
stance, 42 — vain  endeavors  of  the 
national  Synod  of  Rochellein  1571 
to  prove  the  Substance  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
Doctrine  of  the  pretended  Reform- 
ed of  France,  147 — the  Substance 
reduced  to  r.othing  in  the  national 
Synod  of  Nismes,  151. 

Succession.     Protestants  seek  in  vain 
for  the  Succession  of  Persons  and 
Doctrine  in  the  Vaudois  and  Albi- 
genses,  143,  144 — what  is  the  Suc^i 
cession  of  heretics,  145. 

Supper.  The  Supper  of  the  Swiss  or 
Zuinglians  without  substance,  and 
a  presence  in  virtue  only,  42 — dif- 
ference which  the  Zuinglians  of 
Poland  place  between  their  Supper 
and  that  of  ^  he  Socinians,  45 — seve- 
ral pretended  reformed  Churches  of 
France  are  for  changing  the  Sup- 
per-article in  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  145. 

Supremacy  of  the  Kings  of  England  is 
there  eptablished,  notwithstanding 
Clueen  Elizabeth's  qualms  of  con- 
science, 9 — the  Catholic  Bishops 
refuse  tp  sign  it,  ib. — declaration  of 
the  Protestant  Clergy  in  England 
in  favor  of  this  Supremacy,  10 — 
this  doftri'ie  condemned  by  the 
Calvinists,  13. 

Siviss.  New  Confession  of  Faith  of 
the  Helvetic  Churches  or  Swiss, 
38 — frivolous  reasoning  of  the  Min- 


isters concerning  this  Confession, 
ib. — the  Swiss  begin  but  then  to 
know  any  thing  of  imputed  justice, 
39 — they  reject  the  merit  of  good 
works,  ib. — they  attribute  tine 
Faith  to  the  Elect  alone,  40 — they 
teach  the  Certainty  of  Salvation, 
and  the  Inamissibility  of  Grace, 
and  ill  explain  conversion,  ib. — 
their  monstrous  Doctrine  on  Free- 
■will,  41 — according  to  them,  the 
Supper  is  void  of  substance,  and 
no  presence  but  in  virtue,  42 — they 
leave  nothing  peculiar  to  the  Sup- 
per, 43 — they  are  the  most  sincere 
defenders  of  the  figurative  sense, 
44 — the  Swiss  believe  themselves 
condemned  by  the  decision  of  the 
national  Synod  of  Rochellein  1571, 
150 — they  are  not  satisfied  with 
Beza's  answer,  but  still  hold  them- 
selves condemned,  ib. — they  are 
specified  by  the  explication  of  the 
Synod  of  Nismes,  151 — SavIss  for- 
mulary against  Universal  Grace, 
236 — another  Swiss  decision  on  the 
Hebrew  Text  laughed  at  by  the 
learned  of  the  party,  237 — another 
decision  of  the  Swiss  and  Geneva 
reproved  by  M.  Claude,  ib. 

Taborites.  The  sect  of  Taborites 
arises  m  Bohemia,  124 — their  re- 
belUon  and  cruelties,  ib. — their  total 
destruction,  125. 

Temples  erected  in  honor  of  the  Saints 
by  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  136. 

Test.  Test  Act  in  England,  wherein 
the  English  draw  near  to  our  sen- 
timents, and  condemn  us  only  by 
manifest  mistakes,  239. 

Testament.  The  Old  Testament  re- 
jected by  the  Manicheans  as  fabu- 
lous, 50 — rejected  by  the  Albigen- 
ses,  64 — received  by  the  Vaudois, 
108. 

Tonins.  The  national  Synod  of 
Tonins  in  1614  condemns  Piscator, 
161. 

Toulouse.  The  Manicheans  of  Tou- 
louse, 62 — are  the  same  with  the 
Albigenses,  63. 

Transubstantiation.  Manifest  proof 
that  the  Vaudois  did  in  no  wise  err 
as  to  that  point,  88,  89 — this  Doc- 
trine impugned  by  Yv^icklifT,  121 — 
retained  by  John  Huss  and  Je- 
rome of  Prague,  123 — and  by  the 


INDEX. 


367 


Calixtins,  126 — rejected  by  the  Bo- 
hemian Brethren,  127 — the  hatred 
of  the  Calvinist  people  turned 
against  Transubstantiation  ever 
since  the  Synod  of  Charenton  in 
1631,  231— the  word  Transub- 
stantiation chosen  at  the  Coun- 
cil of  Lateran,  318 — and  why — 
Vide  Vol.  I. 

Trent  The  Council  of  Trent  hath 
added  nothing  to  the  decisions  of 
the  Ancients,  319 — it  does  but  re- 
peat the  ancient  decisions  in  respect 
to  justifying  Grace,  322 — in  respect 
to  its  gratuity,  ib. — in  respect  to 
the  preparations  to  Grace,  323 — to 
the  inseparable  union  of  liberty  and 
Grace,  ib. — to  the  merit  of  good 
works,  324 — in  respect  to  the  ful- 
filling of  God's  commandments, 
ib. — it  has  cut  away  the  root  of  all 
abuses  relating  to  the  honor  paid 
to  Images,  327 — its  moderation  in 
determining  nothing  but  what  is 
certain,  328 — it  speaks  not  with 
ambiguity,  ib. — it  has  determined 
all  that  regards  the  true  authority 
of  the  Pope,  330 — in  it,  those  are 
opposed  who  were  for  making  a 
formulary  whence  the  Pope's  su- 
periority over  a  general  council 
might  be  inferred,  ib. — this  formu- 
lary suppressed  with  the  Pope's 
consent,  ib. 

Trinity.  The  ancient  Manicheans' 
sentiment  as  to  the  Trinity,  65 — is 
the  same  with  that  of  the  Toulouse 
Albigenses,  ib. 

Turk.  Jurieu's  ridiculous  conceit  re- 
lating to  the  Turk,  187. 

Turenne  (M.),  Synod  of  Sainte-Foy 
trusts  its  Faith  in  the  hands  of  four 
ministers  and  of  M.  Turenne, 
155 — why  M.  Turenne  was  em- 
ployed in  this  deputation  concern- 
ing doctrine,  ib. 

Ubiquity  taught  by  the  Polish  Zuing- 
lians,  45 — Peter  Du  Moulin,  whose 
sentiment  is  approved  by  the  Sy- 
nod of  Ay,  is  against  condemning 
Ubiquity,  164 — Ubiquity  tolerated 
by  the  Calvinists,  232. 

Unction.  What  was  believed  by  the 
Vaudois  concerning  extreme  Unc- 
tion, 94. 

Union  of  the  three  Protestant  Sects 
of  Poland,  136 — reflections  on  tliis 


Union,  138 — the  assembly  of  Frank- 
fort is  for  making  an  Union  between 
all  tlie  defenders  of  the  figurative 
sense  by  a  common  Confession  of 
Faith,  152. 
Unitarians — Vide  Socinians. 

Valdo,  author  of  the  Vaudois,  48 — 
who  he  was,  79 — whether  a  man 
of  learning,  80 — his  first  design, 
ib. — what  Paul  Penin  says  of  Val- 
do, 103. 

Variations  of  the  English  on  the  Eu- 
charist, 5 — their  Variation  as  to  the 
Adoration  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
Eucharist,  7 — their  Variation  con- 
fessed by  Mr.  Burnet,  14 — Varia- 
tions of  the  Manicheans  of  Germa- 
ny, 60 — Variations  of  the  Vaudois 
since  Luther  and  Calvin's  time,  97 
— Variation  of  the  Reformed  of 
France  relating  to  the  Eucharist, 
145,  151 — Variations  of  the  Swiss 
concerning  the  Vulgate,  237 — the 
cause  of  the  Variations  of  Protes- 
tant Churches,  242. 

Vaudois  (The)  agree  with  the  Zuing- 
lians  and  Lutherans  of  Poland,  45 
— they  are  well  treated  by  the  Cal- 
vinists, and  why,  48 — ridiculous 
pretensions  of  the  Vaudois  as  to 
their  antiquity  ;  false  origin  which 
they  boast  of,  48 — the  Ministers 
make  the  Vaudois  Manicheans  in 

*  making  them  Poplicans,  67 — many 
sorts  of  Heretics  called  Vaudois, 
ib. — the  Vaudois  are  distinguished 
from  the  Manicheans,  and,  by  con- 
sequence, from  the  Albigenses,  70 
— the  beginning  of  the  Vaudois,  or 
Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  79 — the  abridg- 
ment of  their  history,  ib. — they  are 
condemned  by  Pope  Lucius  IIL  ; 
they  come  to  Rome,  80 — they  are 
accused  of  nothing  relating  to  the 
Real  Presence,  81 — their  errors  did 
not  regard  the  Eucharist,  ib. — they 
came  to  beg  the  approbation  of  In- 
nocent III.,  83 — they  begin  to  be 
treated  on  the  foot  of  obstinate 
Heretics,  84 — the  Church's  pa- 
tience with  respect  to  the  Vaudois, 
ib. — their  boldness  increases  by 
little  and  little,  85 — their  doctrine 
in  regard  to  Church  revenues,  ib. — 
they  were  free  from  error  as  to  the 
Sacraments,  ib. — want  of  sincerity 
in  the  Protestant  Historians  with 


368 


INDEX. 


respect  to  the  Vaudois'  original,  86 
— t!i3  Vaudois  did  not  change  their 
doctrnie  concerning  the  Eucharist 
till  Luther's  time,  87 — list  of  their 
errors ;    manifest  proof  that  they 
wei  8  in  no  error  relating  to  Tran- 
substantiation,  89 — they  believe  the 
necessity  of  Confession,  92 — in  the 
exterior  they  performed  the  duties 
of  Catholics,  ib. — what  it  was  they 
believed  of  the  seven  Sacraments, 
93 — in  what  respect  they  condemn 
the  Sacrament  of  Marriage,  95 — 
demonstration  that   the  Catholics 
we  e  neither  ignorant  of,  nor  did 
dissemble  the  doctrine  of  the  Vau- 
dois, ib. — division  of  the  Vaudois' 
doctrine  into  three  heads,  96 — doc- 
trine which  the  Protestants  reject 
in  the  Vaudois  as  well  as  the  Ca- 
tholics, ib. — doctrine  which  the  Ca- 
tholics approve  in  the  Vaudois,  but 
the  Protestants  reject,  97 — the  Vau- 
doij  change    their   doctrine  since 
Luther's  and  Calvin's  time,  ib. — 
nevv  tenets  proposed  to  the  Vaudois 
by  ihe  Protestants,  ib. — the  Vaudois 
nowise  Calvinists  ;    proof  of  this 
from  Crespin,  100 — proof  from  Be- 
za,  101 — change  in  the  Vaudois  oi 
Calabria,  and  their  entire  extinc- 
tion, ib. — the  Vaudois  at  present 
are  not  predecessors,  but  disciples 
of    the    Calvinists,     ib. — Vaudois 
books  produced  by  Perrin,  103 — 
thc'r  confession  produced  by  this 
autaor  is   posterior  to  Calvinism, 
lOo — manifest  proof  that  the  Vau- 
doi"^  had   no  Confession   of  Faith 
antecedently  to  the  pretended  Re- 
for.iation,    ib. — the    Vaudois,     in 
making  their  Calvinist  Confession 
of  jL'^aith,  retained  something  of  the 
Dogmas  pecuhar   to  them,  107 — 
reflections    on   the  history  of  the 
Vaudois  and  Albigenses;  artifice 
of  the  Ministers,  ib. — notoriously 
false  suppositions  of  the  Ministers 
in  order  to  confound  the  Vaudois 
with  the  Albigenses,  108 — whether 
the  word  believers  signifies  the  Vau- 
dois in  the  ancient  authors  ;   Au- 
ber'^in's  fallacy,  112 — the  Vaudois 
concur  not  in  sentiment  with  the 
Calvinists  ;  what  we  sliould  believe 
concerning  the  lives  of  the  Vaudois, 
ib. — their  pride,  113 — sourness  was 
tlieir  character;  abuse  they  made 


of  the  Scripture,  ib. — their  pre- 
sumption, 114 — whether  one  ought 
to  be  surprised  at  their  false  con- 
stancy, 1 1 5 — inevitable  condemna- 
tion of  these  Heretics  in  that  they 
denied  their  rehgion,  ib. — the  Vau- 
dois disowned  by  the  Bohemian 
brethren,  and  by  the  Picards,  116 
— in  what  manner  the  Vaudois 
sprung  from  the  Albigensian  Ma- 
nicheans,  142. 

Vigilantiiis,  in  the  fourth  century,  op- 
poses the  veneration  of  relics,  and 
is  preferred  to  St.  Jerome  by  the 
Protestants,  47. 

Visibility  ohheChnrch — FirfeChurch. 

Vocation.  Memorable  decision  of  the 
Synod  of  Gap  concerning  extraor- 
dinary Vocation,  256 — the  Minis- 
ters elude  this  extraordinary  Voca- 
tion, 257 — they  are  obliged  to  give 
up  extraordinary  Vocation,  ib. 

War.  The  first  civil  Wars  under 
Charles  IX.,  which  the  whole  tlu- 
guenot  party  concurs  in,  20 — these 
Wars  approved  in  their  national 
Synod,  21 — what  spirit  actuated 
the  Huguenots  in  these  Wars,  23 
— their  vain  pretences  that  these 
wars  did  not  concern  religion,  ib. — 
perplexity  of  the  French  Calvinists 
with  respect  to  these  Wars,  25 — 
the  first  War  resolved  on  by  the 
advice  of  all  the  Ministers,  and 
peace  concluded  in  spite  of  them, 
26 — the  other  was  destitute  of  all 
pretext,  28— Vide  Vol.  I. 
fVickliff.  His  impious  Doctrine,  47 
— he  never  separated  from  Rome, 
48 — his  Trialogue  tumultuates  all 
Bohemia,  1 18 — what  was  his  The- 
ology, ib. — he  imitates  the  false 
piety  of  the  Vaudois,  by  attributing 
the  effect  of  the  Sacraments  topci- 
sonal  merit,  120 — his  Doctrine  no- 
wise slandered  at  the  Council  of 
Constance, i&. — his  pernicious  Doc- 
trine concerning  Kings,  i6. — he con- 
sented to  the  invocation  of  saints, 
honored  their  images,  and  believed 
in  purgatory,  12  J — Wickliff's  Con- 
fession of  Faith  produced  by  M.  de 
la  Roque,  jun.,  where  the  real  Pre- 
sence is  clearly  laid  down  and 
Transubstantiation  rejected,  ib. — 
this  Confession  attributed  to  the 
Council  of  London  by  M.  de  la 


INDEX. 


369 


Roque,  ib. — the  contrary  proved 
by  Wickliff  himself;  i6.— Wicklifi 
publicly  renounces  his  Doctrine, 
and  dies  in  the  exterior  communion 
of  the  Church,  122— Melancthon's 
judgment  concerning  Wickliff,  ib. 
— his  memory  respected  by  the 
Cahxtins,  and  why,  126. 
Wissonats.  Andrew  Wissonats  shows 
how  the  Unitarians  separated  from 
the  Reformed,  311. 

Zisca,  chief  of  the  Taborites,  his 
bloody  feats,  124. 

Zuinglians  (The)  make  a  new  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  38 — they  go  over 
to  Calvin's  notions  concerning 
Grace,   40 — man's  conversion    ill 


explained  by  them,  ib. — their  mon- 
strous doctrine  concerning  Free- 
will, 41 — according-  to  them,  the 
Supper  is  void  of  Substance,  and 
the  Presence  but  in  virtue,  42 — 
they  leave  nothing  peculiar  to  the 
Supper,  43 — they  are  the  most 
sincere  defenders  of  the  figurative 
sense,  44 — remarkable  Confession 
of  Faith  of  the  Polish  Zuinglians, 
ib. — they  teach  Ubiquity,  45 — their 
agreement  with  the  Lutherans  and 
Vaudois,  ib. — their  union  with  the 
Bohemians  and  Lutherans  at  Sen- 
domir,  136 — the  Zuinglians,  most 
of  them,  recede  from  their  particu- 
lar principles  in  this  union,  137— 
reflection  on  this  union,  138. 


END  OF  VOLUME  THE  SECOND. 


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